This is an (almost) impossible shot to get... the garden and the garden-viewing room at the Enkouji Temple (圓光寺, Kyoto Japan), at the height of fall colors, both completely devoid of people.

This next photo of the same place six years ago (from this blog post) is what this kind of place normally looks like:

Indeed, that's what it was like when I was there last fall (Nov 2012)... 今回...

A clear shot from near the edge of the room with a 50mm lens is one thing, but what about with a wide-angle lens (24mm) from the back of the [...]

Last November I posted a wigglegram on "Elegance in Kyoto’s Tenjyuan Garden". (If you don't know what wigglegram is, check out the post and be sure to move your mouse over the picture). Even though I shot more than 70 gigabytes worth of photos that day, I still haven't shared anything else from that garden except for one representative photo on "A Long But Photogenic November in Kyoto".

So, today I'm finally posting a few more from that visit to the Tenjyuan Garden (天授庵), a sub-temple of the famous Nanzenji Temple. It was my first visit.

I seem to have [...]

Revisiting last fall's ikebana (flower arranging) event at the Shoren'in Temple, previously seen in these posts:

Photography is not normally allowed in this temple, but it was for this event.

I ended up chatting with the American guy taking the photo above. It turns out that he had just met the lady in the kimono and done a quick picture, and when she happened by as we talked, he introduced us. She accepted my request to take a quick portrait; not wanting to keep her waiting, I suggested that I'd do it right then and there standing (coincidentally) about where [...]

In "Kyoto's Souren-ji Temple at f/1.2" the other day, I shared some ultra-thin-depth-of-field shots taken with a 50mm f/1.2 lens. A thin depth of field can be distracting, or it can make for a great effect -- one that I'm quite partial to -- but I didn't think the shots on that post were all that strong... just odd/different (and colorful).

So, for today's post, I was thinking to share some better examples, but I ran out of time to do the writeup I wanted, so instead I'll just share a couple of cute shots that happen to have a [...]

Going back into my archives again, to last April's visit to the Suntory Whisky Distillery in Yamazaki, 20 minutes south of Kyoto. It's Japan's oldest whisky distillery, and offers free tours daily.

Here's one photo to remind you of the initial post...

One thing I didn't cover in that is the photogenic "Whisky Museum", housing more than 7,000 samples of whisky and assorted spirits taken over the years.

The distillery is near a train station, and you have to cross the tracks near the front gate...

I don't really care for whisky, but I love the smells around the place, [...]