As I mentioned in my previous post, the plum is starting to bloom in Kyoto. One of the famous spots for it is the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮), which has a large orchard that you can visit for 600 yen (about US$7). It's not worth paying to see the orchard yet, though, because the blossoms are pretty sparse. I got my calendar confused, so paid to go in...

Close ups on individual branches are still fruitful, but you can get plenty of that in the free open area of the shrine. It's when the orchard is brimming with blossoms that it's worth a specific visit.

The slight change in focus to the blossom at the leading part of the branch gives much more depth to the result, I think. (The difference becomes apparent when you view them at the large click-through size.) The final shot has the background more “receding into the distance” than “in the background”, as if the tree is reaching out to the viewer.

I'm probably reading too much into it, but I like “Slightly Different Focus” much better than “Same Scene”.

The next two shots differed only in the aperture, and I can't tell which I prefer...

I brought a small mist-spray bottle of water, to see whether I might get some nice effects. I felt slightly slimy using it, and I don't think the water added much in this case, but it's still a nice shot.

Continued here...

It's still quite early for plum blossoms, but having apparently been quite confused, I went to the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮) today expecting them to be in their prime. Most trees were still bare, but there were still ample blossoms to be found here and there.

I seem to have bad luck with this temple... my first visit five years ago resulted in a blog post titled “Late to the Party: Plum Blossoms at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine”, where I talk about how past their prime they were.

Then the next year I stopped by in January expecting to find nothing, but found a few blossoms: “Kyoto Plum-Blossom Status Report: Kitano Tenmangu Shrine”.

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Last autumn I finally made my first visit to the sprawling mountainside Shugakuin Imperial Villa in north-east Kyoto. It's one of three imperial (connected with the Emperor of Japan) sites in Kyoto that you can visit via reservation, but reservations can be difficult to come by. For example, other than a few time slots next month, every online reservation slot is already full through the end of May.

However, foreigners can stop by the Imperial Household Agency office (on the grounds of the imperial-palace park, here) to pick up a near-term reservation if any have opened up. If you're lucky you get one on the same day or the next day, but you can try to reserve up to a month in advance. You can make a reservation for yourself and three others, but at most only one can be Japanese. You need details on IDs (copy of a driver's license, passport, residency card, etc.) for all members in order to register.

The tour moves at a pretty tight and brisk pace, stopping at various buildings (mostly tea houses) for some discussion. The guides/chaperons — all polite but unsmiling plain-clothed policemen — don't allow you to dawdle. For someone interested in photography, it's both exciting and frustrating, because you'll be exposed to scene after beautiful scenes, each of which you could spend hours at, but in most locations a pause of 10 seconds will earn you a reprimand to keep up.

The sun was just popping up over the mountains and the light was crisp and raw, leaving the evergreen trees positively glowing in an otherworldly way. I thought to try to overexpose a bit to capture the brilliance... not sure it really works, but here it is:

In one of the tea houses (all of which you can see from the outside only), down a long dark hallway you could see some notable old paintings of some of the huge wooden floats from the Gion Festival (such as this and this). It was very dark, but at ISO 10,000 you can make something of nothing...

The various private/secure areas are separated by farmer's fields and paths...

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As I mentioned the other day in “Candid Portrait of an Athlete”, 10-year-old Anthony has been playing water polo for about a year. His first actual game was last month, during a series of matches over the course of a three-day tournament at the Namihaya Dome (なみはやドーム) in Osaka.

Photographically, the situation was pretty bad... spectators we were behind glass and had very limited mobility....

The large windows on the opposite wall made for blinding backlight when the sun was out. One day it was pouring rain, so the light was more even then.

Anthony was apprehensive about participating because he wasn't even at the point of knowing the rules yet. I was sort of surprised that after a year they hadn't gotten to small details like how a game is structured... they had just been practicing basic skills (and, as is appropriate for elementary school kids, I suppose, having fun).

So I looked up info on water polo online, and gave him the gist of the sport.

In the shot above, the opposing attacker has no idea that Anthony has no idea what to do, and it turned out that Anthony's mere presence was enough to deter a shot, and the attacker ended up passing it away. Woo-hoo!

Later that night, and exhausted Anthony asked me whether he was allowed to block a ball that had been thrown at the goal. Yes, yes, you can (and should) block any ball the opposing team tries to throw! I thought it was cute that he had played in several games and still didn't know this. I was also proud that he had the guts to participate when he had no idea what was going on. He wasn't alone... it was the first game for several kids.

They can't touch the bottom of the pool during the entire match (including when jumping up to block), so it's exhausting.

That particular game was a 2-2 tie.

For some other games, they had dark caps. Anthony was #6 either way.

Behind this goal was another half of the pool, where kids not participating in the current game could warm up or play.

Anthony is in fourth grade. Some kids seemed to be in first or second grade. Many were in fifth or sixth grade.

At this level, it's co-ed.

At one point after a match, Anthony wanted to communicate something to Mommy, but couldn't be heard through the glass. He improvised...

A few more random non-Anthony action shots...

Picking up from part 1 and part 2 about my trip to the Housen-in Temple (宝泉院) in the Ohara mountain district of Kyoto last fall, we moved from the temple and its maple/moss garden, to a separate rock garden...

The weather alternated between light rain and brilliant sun... the gloominess seen above was suddenly replaced by intense sun, which lit up the moss and leaves near this gnarled (overly pruned) bush....

The tsukubai (water basin for ritual purification) is a particular focus point in this garden of many focus points...

It's a bit too much for my taste when viewed as a whole, but I liked the photogenic details...

Continued here...