It's been a busy few days since I posted "Weeping Cherry at Kyoto’s Ryouanji Temple (龍安寺)". I came down with a cold, my wife performed in a local production of Swan Lake, and I recovered from my cold, in that unfortunate order. No time to even look at the photos from the other day beyond a quick glace at the top of the stack, so here are a few more from the start of that outing...

After all the buds and blossoms I posted last month (such as here, here, and here), I told myself I'd concentrate more on shots [...]

I spent most of the day at the Ryouanji Temple (龍安寺) in northwest Kyoto, which I often visit in the fall for its spectacular autumn scenery. I think today was my first visit during cherry-blossom season.

I was tickled to discover that the "weeping cherry" (シダレ桜) at the west end of the property were spectacular, both pink and white. Best earlier in the day... by noon the light was too harsh.

I haven't looked at the photos yet, but while flying through the grid of 881 shots to mark color-checker shots as part of my import routine, I thought this [...]

This posts continues "Enjoying the Blossoms at the Kyoto Imperial Palace Park" from the other day, with more folks enjoying themselves, as seen through the uncommon perspective of 300mm at f/2.

(The mask, common in Japan during pollen season, is likely to help ease her allergies.)

Some of the unspecific shots of blossoms seem a bit mesmerizing to me...

At one point Paul Barr stopped by, and tried the 300m f/2 a bit himself...

On the way home I couldn't help but pause for a quick shot from time to time...

But mostly what I noticed on the way home [...]

Following up on "Temple Hopping in Kyoto with Katrin Philippar" from the other day, I left off as we entered the Kiyomizu Temple.

Photogenic sights abounded, but it was really crowded.

The lady in Kimono stood there for the longest time (multiple minutes), waiting for an opportunity for a nice shot for her photographer at the bottom of the stairs. Few people bothered to give her a wide berth, and I suppose that's understandable because it was crowded and the steps were for everyone, but the lady in black right next to her in the shot above seemed in particular [...]

I popped over to the Imperial Palace Park ("Kyoto Gosho", 京都御所) yesterday for some blossom Joie de Vivre kind of shots of folks enjoying the many blossoms... mostly peach and cherry these days. It's the same place I took a bunch of blossom closeups seen two weeks ago in "The Buds and Blossoms are Just Peachy", but this time the lens was the very special the Nikkor 300mm f/2.

It was quite crowded, but nevertheless still quite pleasant.

The bokeh with this lens can be great (such as here), but the bright branches in the background of the shot above [...]