icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Steps To The Munetada Shrine (宗忠神社)
Kyoto, Japan
Stéphane Barbery invited me today to visit a temple and shrine near Mt. Yoshida, an area a 20-minute walk from my place that he introduced to me a few years ago.
In the years since, I've gone by the steps seen above many times, but I'd never actually gone up them, but today I was continuing my slight walking-for-health kick and had arrived on foot, so I took them.
I'd hauled my tank of a Nikkor 300mm f/2 because Stéphane had found a good vantage point for a photo of the neighboring temple, but it turns out that conditions weren't ideal, and to make matters worse, the polarizing filter that I thought I brought turned out to have been an ND filter. Doh!
So, the photos from there were horrible.... even after heavy processing in Lightroom, you can only barely make out that the entire backdrop is a tree-covered mountainside ...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/5000 sec, f/2, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shinnyodou Temple (真如堂)
looking across from the Munetada Shrine
In all these years I'd never actually been to that temple, though I'd seen the pagoda from time to time, including in this shot from last year.
So, Stéphane brought me over to show me.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/1000 sec, f/2, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading Back Down
I wasn't allowed to use a monopod in the temple complex, and 300mm was too tight (too much zoom) for the situation anyway, so I switched to my Voigtländer 125mm, but not before I got this shot, which I sorta' like...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/800 sec, f/2, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Private Parking
I then switched to the smaller lens, and we strolled around the pleasant grounds. There were a fair number of people, but the mood was somehow decidedly uncrowded. The temple grounds are not all that large, but there was a wide variety of scenes... different mixes of colors, textures, angles...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Private Viewing
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Layer
after layer after layer
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Long Yellow Branch
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hanging by a Thread
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Exceedingly Orange
down to the hair
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Above the Arbor
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pleasant
That last one reminds me of last season's “Heading Home”.
This next shot, looking up at a steep angle to some leaves near the temple roof sloping down at an odd angle gives me a slight sense of vertigo...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slight Vertigo
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sharing the Experience
I would have liked to stay longer, but my back was killing me because I was hauling around the heavy lens in Lowepro's pathetic excuse for a large-lens backpack, so I made an early exit, thinking about how I might make my own solution to carry the 20-pound lens....
icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Behind The Temple
Imakumano Kannonji Temple (今熊野観音寺)
Kyoto Japan
Today I revisited for the first time a few of the temples that I first visited last spring (as seen in “An Amazing Day of Photography at Some Eastern-Kyoto Temples” and "Revisiting April's Eastern-Kyoto Temple Stroll, among others), spending most of the time wandering the sprawling grounds of the Imakumano Kannonji Temple (今熊野観音寺).
It was almost completely deserted except for light tourist traffic in the main area. Those who ventured 30 seconds beyond were treated to the most amazing single tree I've ever seen, the red one seen above. It was a dull, heavily-overcast day, and there were no electronic lights around, but the red leaves glowed with a pure laser red beyond anything I could have imagined, so much so that I wondered whether it was fake. Kyoto treats me to jaw-dropping awe-inspiring displays of autumnal colors year after year, but it can still knock my socks off with something new.
Of course, there's no way a digital camera can capture that deep, rich, pure red, especially not when shoving all the color data into something as feeble as the Internet-standard sRGB color space, so it's simply not possible to recreate the color on screen; you'll have to use your imagination.
Update: That's true, but more perspectives available here...
icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dark and Bright
Here are a few more from my Yoshiminedera Temple visit the other day with Paul Barr. As I noted on the earlier post, the colors are less impressive this year than last year, but it's still the nicest temple in Kyoto for fall colors, I think, ahead even of the Eikando Temple, which has the benefit of being a convenient stroll from my house.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tenacious
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Weeping Cherry
has apparently shed its tears for the season
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Overdesigned
and the beauty thereof
I've probably posted these kinds of temple-roof cross-sectional views a dozen times (most recently that I can recall, here, here, and] here), but I'm always drawn to them, and the setting sun shining directly on this one made the construction all the more apparent to appreciate.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
For reference, here's the building these came from...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Minor Outlying Building
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/3.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pleasant Path
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Too Many Layers
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
「しやわせ」？
Seems like a typo to me
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Green with Anticipation
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
The temple complex has many layers as you move up the mountain... here's a shot of one mid-level layer looking down from one further up...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pleasant Landing Halfway Up
... and some shots taken earlier on that level ...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/3.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Foreground? Background?
Why choose when you can enjoy both
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/1600 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Moment's Respite
The area in the background was truly impressive...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
“I See an Orange Leaf”
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/8, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Too. Many. Colors.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/8, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Particularly Impressive Area
Moving to an area under some of the orange-laden branches...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/9, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dizzying
About the same place, where the main path does an elbow turn to the right, you can go straight ahead up into a small shrine area to relax...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/800 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Minor Little Shrine Area
a quiet place to sit and relax a bit
Some areas lost the sun quickly past noon...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
In The Shade of the Mountain
Others keep it longer...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Private Visit
to a little grave area
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Paul and the Arborist
( two people are in there, if you can find them )
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Just a Trim Off the Top
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quite the View
The view was great from this area and we loitered for well over half an hour, and the guy was working away in that part of that tree the whole time.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
To be continued...
icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/13, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Entrance Hut From Afar
the Yoshiminedera Temple (善峯寺)
Kyoto, Japan
My cold definitely seems to be over, so today I made the trek to the deep-mountain southwest corner of Kyoto City, to the Yoshiminedera Temple (善峯寺) that Stéphane Barbery introduced me to last year. I made two trips last year, producing enough story and photographic material to fill dozens of blog posts, but being lazy I've so far posted only a few (here, here, and most recently here).
Arriving today with Paul Barr after an hour-long scooter ride, and getting the first view of the entrance seen above, I was struck by three things:
- The fall colors are much weaker than last year.
- Even weaker, it's still a sight to inspire awe.
- And wow, the polarizing filter makes such a huge difference.
Several weeks ago I posted “Heading Out To Photograph The Fall Foliage? Don't Forget The Polarizer Filter” using examples taken here, and arriving today I found myself compelled to take more with/without pairs of shots. The difference is striking, but already well illustrated in the previous post, so I won't add more today.
The whole temple complex is on a mountainside that sprawls more vertically than horizontally, and in that vein the entrance “hut” (as tall as a four-story building) is a long set of stairs above the parking lot. The intervening slope is covered with hedge, out of which a sprig of red berries emerged, so I thought I'd get artsy-fartsy and try aiming up the slope to get the foreground berries in focus, leaving the background out of focus...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/1600 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Falling Flat
The berries are so sufficiently unsubstantial that one may not even notice them, so the effect I envisioned didn't materialize at all, but I do like something about this (out-of-focus) background, so in the end I like the shot.
Switching to a tighter zoom (125mm instead of 50mm) helps bring out the effect I was after, but the impact isn't quit there...
Pausing on the steps with the wide-angle lens (24mm), now here's a shot I can get behind....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/14, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Final Approach
on the last set of stairs leading to the entrance
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/14, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Up
And we hadn't even entered yet; inside, it got much nicer still, but that's best left for another dozen posts, if I ever get unlazy.
On the way out three hours later after the sun had set behind the mountain, I thought to snap a picture of the entrance hut itself...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/1.6, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Entrance Hut
final picture on our way out
Passing through there on the way in, you pay 500 yen (about US $6.50) to enter, and if ever there was a temple and season that was worth it, this is it.
Some of the maples are still absolutely green, without even the slightest hint of fall color yet, so this season is certainly weird, but that bodes well for another trip. The temple faces the morning sun, and opens at 8am, so if I go again, I'll try to get there early.
icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wall of Sake Barrels
Matsuo Shrine （松尾大社）
Kyoto Japan
Having recovered from a mild but lingering cold, I went out for some lite temple/shrine exploration in western Kyoto with Paul Barr yesterday. The autumn colors are late and weak this year, but it's always fun to explore new nooks and crannies of Kyoto, so I enjoyed it.
There's a tradition of sake (rice wine) companies sending donations to shrines in exchange for prominent display of their patronage, and the barrels on display at this particular shrine we came across were particularly large.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Born
It's the season for children's “7-5-3” celebrations (as described here, and as seen with my own kid here)...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cute Photo Op
Child celebrating the “7-5-3” holiday
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Heading Home
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Weathered
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Taking Aim
I'm not really sure what the above thing was about, but I suspect it has to do with fortune telling. The girls were giggling the whole time. She missed, but they clearly got their presumably small fee's worth of fun.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Finally
a touch of color
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fringe
After leaving that shrine, we putzed around the back roads looking for lunch, and happened upon a simple cafe with good food. I snapped a picture of the entrance just to mark the location (because my photos are geoencoded, as per the map link under each photo)....
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Matsuo Soba Restaurant
We could see on the map that a large temple was not far, so we headed over, but it turns out to have been the Moss Temple, which I have no interest in seeing and requires a reservation a week in advance anyway, but nearby we happened across the fairly-hidden “Bamboo Temple”, still apparently undiscovered by the hordes of tourists buzzing nearby...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Entrance to the Bamboo Temple
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/20 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bamboo and Sun
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quiet Color
Then we thought to head up towards the main area of Arashiyama and seek out the remote temple seen in this picture that I posted two months ago, from a lookout on a mountain-top park.
From the main road it's a pleasant 1.1km walk along the river to get to the stairs that lead up to the temple, though in our case it was a pleasant 1.1km scooter ride. 🙂 Then we left the scooter and started up the mountain...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/7.1, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Up the Mountain
on the way to the Senkouji Temple (千光寺)
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/250 sec, f/1.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Along the Way
In the photo above, Paul is taking a shot of a lively roof....
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Living Roof
These are common in rustic temples and shrines, and I love them and have posted photos from them many times, but this one was particularly low so that I could get easy access with my macro lens...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Little Universe
growing on a roof that's been allowed to grow close to nature
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Alien Landscape
There wasn't much in the way of fall colors, but a few bland tinges here and there made for a nice backdrop from time to time...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Textures
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lookout
If you look carefully at the photo above, you can see people at the top center. It's from there that I took the “remote temple” photo two months ago, and now this photo is the reverse angle of that one.
The “remote temple” is pretty rustic, in a pleasant way...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rustic
... and offers a very nice view of the river, the mountains, and northern Kyoto, though the view of the city is washed out in this shot...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nice View
From the Senkouji Temple
Back down at the bottom of the steps where I'd left the scooter, we saw employees standing on a dock waiting to meet a boat carrying customers to a place with the name 星のや (hoshinoya), which I assumed to be a pricey restaurant....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Customer Arrival
Hoshinoya Inn, Spa, and Restaurant
It turns out to be an inn, spa, and restaurant, and that “pricey” was an understatement. Its web site lists dinner starting at $200 per person, and the three-day spa course runs $2,200, though that doesn't include a 10% service charge, nor even accommodations, which one supposes must be equally spendy.
Riding the quiet, mostly-empty path back to the main road did not prepare me for the scene once I arrived. It hits the main road at the western end of the famous Togetsukyo Bridge (渡月橋, seen here and more recently here). The whole area was positively swarming with people and traffic and unfun. I much prefer out-of-the-way places that my scooter gives me access to.
Today I'm off to Yoshiminedera. I still haven't looked at most of the photos I took last year, but it's nice to have them in reserve because this year's colors are so weak, I may not end up with anything today. We'll see...