I've found especially this spring that I tend to use the Voigtländer 125mm more than ever, and seem to be falling into the easy-pickings trap of macro flora photography. I guess it's a phase.

This seemed particularly evident to me the other day on the outing with Paul Barr that produced "Photographer's Low-Hanging Fruit: a Pretty Flower", which this post is essentially a continuation of.

To be continued...

Picking up from yesterday's intro post on the Ishiyama Temple (石山寺) half an hour away in Otsu, Japan, here are a few more shots from early in the visit to the large mountainous grounds...

To be continued...

These were all at the entrance to a temple in Otsu that Paul Barr introduced me to today. I haven't yet looked at the rest of the photos, but it was quite an impressive place, so I have hope that at least a few good shots came of it.

Continued here...

Taking pictures of growing flowers is about as challenging as I imagine it would be to photograph animals caged in a zoo... the only thing easier would be pictures of non-growing flowers, e.g. cut and arranged flowers, as I've done many times (including here, here, here, here, and here, among others), which is perhaps comparable to photographing animals after the taxidermist has finished.

Still, pretty is pretty, so here we are.

I discovered this particular flower along a path while I was out in Kyoto with Paul Barr today. My discovery came right after he pointed at it and said [...]

The other day after a short stroll through the Chishaku-in Temple in eastern Kyoto, we made our way behind it to search for a set of stairs that Stéphane had suggested. We found it.

At the top of the small set of steps was a park with cherry blossoms and kids playing, beyond which was a large wooden gate building...

Paying a scant 50 yen (US$ 0.60) to pass through, we found the main set of stairs....

Just as we started up, someone came to jog the stairs, reminding me of north-east Kyoto's Tanukitanisan Fudouin Temple where athletes train by [...]