So, the other day, I posted the above photo without a title, soliciting captions. Almost two dozen suggestions later (all of which were kept hidden until after I posted this followup, so as not to influence subsequent suggestions) and the overwhelming theme is "layers" and "strata".

Of course, the wonderful banding of different colors and textures is what prompted me to take the photo in the first place. It took it from my balcony, looking across the little stream next to our place to the path on the other side. I've lived here for four years and never noticed it [...]

This post – #1,392 on my blog – is by far the longest I've ever endeavored to write, and yet at the same time one of the least fulfilling to present.

Great vistas like the Grand Canyon or an old palace find their magnificence in the wide view, in the sum of their parts, but the gardens around the workshop of the centuries-old Nishimura Stone Lanterns find their magnificence in an attention to detail. A wide view can help present a context for something of interest, but this site is definitely a case where the sum of the parts is [...]

As I mentioned yesterday, the visit to the workshop and gardens of Nishimura Stone Lanterns (a fifth-generation hand stone-carving business) and their back garden was an amazing, overwhelming, mentally draining experience.

I haven't even given my photos a first-pass inspection, but soon after taking the photo above I knew it was emblematic of our time there, and knew that I would post it early.

Here's a photo by Paul Barr of me taking it...

As you can see in Paul's shot, the leaves are resting on a fairly simple square column, with a few adornments at the top, ending with [...]

The initial destination of my photo outing with Paul Barr yesterday (the one where we discovered the workshop of Nishimura Stone Lanterns) was to visit the Nitenji Temple, nestled up in the mountains of north-east Kyoto, perched precariously over the ravine on the road over to Otsu.

After the outing, we returned to my place and I introduced Lightroom to him, and in using random photos from the day to demonstrate things you could do within Lightroom's Develop module, I happened upon the soft-focus creamy effect you see above. I liked the effect in this case, so I decided to [...]

Anthony visited his friend Monet today. She lives up in Hieidaira, a community in the mountains between here (Kyoto) and Otsu. The drive up the twisty crowded mountain road was breathtaking, and while they played I returned for a few photos.

I stopped at a few places along the short (5-mile) route, but there were way too many colors to fit in one post; these are just a few shots from the first place I stopped....

Fall colors at a temple or shrine in the city can be really pretty, especially at a big place that gives you opportunities to [...]