We're on a three-day weekend trip to Naoshima (直島), an island just off the coast of Okayama, about four hours' drive south-west from Kyoto.

We're staying at Benesse House, a modern-art museum and hotel.

That bridge is the subject of this post from a year and a half ago.

The hotel doubles as a modern-art museum. Modern art is not my cup of tea at all, but this place feels more like I'm in a video game (Doom, circa 20 years ago), so it's actually fun.

Apparently, the Big Squash is a famous landmark. You can see it jutting [...]

Kyoto friend Zak Braverman was asked by his friend, pottery artisan Koji Kamada, to take photos of some recent pieces. Knowing I'm into photography, and of late trying to up my game on artificial lighting, Zak kindly invited me along.

I prepared everything I imagined I would need for, well, what I imagined I would be shooting, but upon arrival I quickly realized that my imagination differed significantly from reality, and we were totally unprepared. Specifically, I was unprepared for 1) the need for dark backgrounds instead of white, and 2) pottery that had direct reflections, like a mirror.

We [...]

Busy day today... caught the fringe of two famous Kyoto festivals. In the afternoon was Jidai Matsuri (時代祭 -- "Festival of the Ages"), more or less a re-enactment parade representing the many periods Kyoto's long history. I caught the tail end of the procession as it made its way past my place.

(I'll post more another day, I'm sure, but in the meantime, for a different take on the genre, check out Stéphane Barbery's photos from three years ago, and from today.)

In the evening was the Kurama Fire Festival, which involves a lot of fire being heaved and hoed [...]

Finally getting that all-consuming project that I just posted about off my back, I can now return to my photos. Here are a few from the ikebana (flower arranging) event I went to a couple of weeks ago at the Shoren'in Temple (青蓮院) in eastern Kyoto. I'd managed to post a few shots earlier (in my "busy hallway", "cute and colorful scene ", and "serene photos" posts).

This event was related to the flower-arranging events that I post about every year, but it was a special event to mark the ascendancy of a new head of all worldwide practitioners of [...]

The fall colors won't get going in earnest in Kyoto for another month and a half, but I came across this leaf yesterday that seems to have begun things with gusto.

京都の秋はまだまだですが、この葉っぱは元気で速い。