Kyoto (Japan)

Kyoto! Japan's Ancient Capital! Its certainly a sight! Before Tokyo (Previously named Edo) Became the modern capital of Japan, Kyoto was the government center of Japan. And it doesnt dissapoint. Graciously restored/mantained Kyoto continues to preserve much of its ancient heritage with many of the streets and houses unchanged since the days of the Tokugawa Era (If I'm not mistaken) or earlier! Going thru the streets one can easily Imagine them several hundreds of years ago with Samurai and Geiko/Geisha roaming the streets (Of which Geiko & Geisha still do!). Alas spending only one night in the old district in an ancient ryokan was little more than a tease of what old Kyoto had to offer photographically as the rest of our trip was spent on the more modern side near the Train Station. Below are pictures from Kyoto and our the Bullet train stations, closing my Japan posts as the rest of the images have been featured or mentioned in previous posts.














One of the things that I was particularly happy about during this trip was that I picked up an eye for little details. Shooting with a Mentor and many other experienced photographers was certainly an experience I would like to repeat as I believe my creative insight and photographic eye improved tenfold. A trend which I have noticed improving since my Japan Trip.

Nara (Japan)

Nara was another of my fave locations to shoot during my trip to Japan (although in all honesty I dont think there was a single thing that wasnt my fave to shoot! lol)

Another of Japan's glorious traditional and ancient temples, Nara was particularly special because of the roaming Deer! (and the Giant Budha statue inside the temple). The young deer were easily found roaming around the temple grounds and about as afraid of humans as an average American afraid of a burger! They had no qualms in approaching visitors, and some even cheeky enough to poke around in pockets for anything edible. A large reason for this is that the temple allows and even encourages the feeding of these young fawn by selling panckakes on which they feast on. With an ample and easily accessible supply of food these little animals have little to fear, and even less to want outside the temple grounds.


They are however incredibly bad models as getting them to stay still AND look where you wanted them too was a difficult task indeed! I was able to help my mentor get an able image with one of the deer, however it was rather less responsive when I got behind the lens. Anywais enough yabbering. Enjoy!



The Intricate Details of the Temple were Incredible!



As I mentioned the deer were more than happy to come and say Hi!



Inside the temple I was lucky enough to see this woman being photographed by her husband. however whilst he might have been attempting to get her lit with his flash, I was more interested in the sillouette she was creating



This is one of my fave images of the trip! This father was teaching his child to salute...just like the giant Budha!



Although this isnt the giant budha of the temple this little one in children's clothing was quite amusing ( I was unfortunately unable to get a clear Image of the giant one in the temple)



The Temple



Schoolchildren comming to visit the temple (I love the uniforms!)



In Japan before entering sacred grounds its customary to was your hands and mouth with these as a sign of cleansing.

The Golden Pavilion, Japan (Roukon-Ji)

The Rokuon - ji Temple was originally built as a villa by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who had taken possession of a mountain villa of Saionji Temple in 1397. It was converted into a temple after Yoshimitsu's death. Officially named Rokuonji Temple, this temple is famous both in Japan and abroad as a symbol of Kitayama culture. The Kinkaku, or "Golden Pavilion," was built as the Shariden. Covered with gold, the image of the pavilion, which stands at the edge of Kyokochi pond, is reflected in the water. Major repair work performed in 1987 has further enhanced its brilliance.


it was a real Joy to shoot this magnificent temple. Kept in these serene grounds its certainly a breathtaking sight, enough to even compete with the original golden temple in India.


Enjoy the photos.

P.S If anyone can tell me how I can mantain my colours during export it would be much appreciate it. I've been told that the best formula is to shoot in AdobeRGB (since it gives me the most flexibility for print and web), and then in Lighroom during export to export to sRGB which will mantain my colours but making them websafe. I've noticed that they become slightly washed out when I upload them onto flickr. If anyone could help me remedy this it would be much appreciated

More Japan

Hey Guys, so these Images have been WELL overdue, I'm tempted to just dump them all on Flickr right now, but they are amongst the best I've shot all year and it would seem a pity for some of them to just get lost or never seen simply because of an overload dump, so I'm going to try to do 30 a day or so. I'm very close to having uploaded all my remaining archived Images for 2009, hopefully in time for years end, they will all be up, as for 2010, I'm looking to start a new page in my life as a photographer. I'm hoping by then I will have completed my Wordpress jump. Aditionally I'm hoping to close my current Lightroom catalog in hopes of opening a new one, as the current one holds 3 years of Images and is beggining to slow down, considerably. Anywho, here are some of the Japan Images from the latest batch, as usual you can see the whole set here.

Enjoy

Off the usual path

I do miss Europe. I do particularly regret having missed a majority of my summer, having spent it in the monsoon rainy season here in Asia. Whilst I am learning a considerable ammount, and the longer I spend here the further I see photographic oportunities arise before me, there is something particularly special about Europe during the summer. Its not just Spain, but rather the UK, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Tangier, Casablanca (I know they dont technically constitute Europe but they do border the mediterranean), France...They always say, "I'm going to spend my summer in Europe," or ,"Remember that summer in Europe?" There is just something magical about it. In my last days,  as hectic as they were I took the oportunity to take a drive with my brother down the coastal highway, till we found some random exit, and made our way down to the beach. The sun was just beginning to set, and I thought rather than sit at home, it would be the perfect oportunity to get out and do some shooting! And boy am I glad I did.
















Of course shooting at sunset is always an interesting adventure. How long do you spend on the sun? When do you catch the Sun? When is that sweet spot where you can catch the most ammount of detail? When is that shot that you take Just after everyone else is finishing shooting the sunset which blows out half their image? One of the first thing's I learned about photography is that when the sun is setting, theres always a "sweet" moment slightly later than most might consider which give the best dynamic range and colours. The shot which sets you aside as a "pro" photographer. However, just because you're sitting around waiting for it, doesn't mean you cant keep shooting. As a the Sun begins to set, you often get the best kind of light to shoot things in. One of the important things people forget during a sunset is to turn around! You never know what magic the light from a setting sun will bring...just dont forget to look back at the sun when its just about to finish dipping beyond that horizon...














Of course a sunset was not all we found at the beach. The building in the following image as I discovered was one of a series of abandoned railway stations from years ago (back in the days of Franco I beleive) which went along the coast from one end of Malaga to the Other. I have made a note of this, and am determined to seek out these other stations my next summer back home.





I hope you've enjoyed the images and you can find the full flickr set here

a teensy self portrait

Okay so considering today's photochallenge was backpack, I took the oportunity to take a couple of self portraits (anything to practise strobing). I quickly realised I need to establish a place where I can shoot stuff in the house....having realised today My dressing room, half covered with mirrors, and a dressing table painted in varnish are all recipe's for incredibly bad lighting. The mirrors send any light they pick up bouncing everywhere lighting bits, I probably didnt want lit, and the varnished furniture....well lets say in a small room where a stand and a brollie were probably not the best options simply because of the mirrors, said piece of furniture was very un-bogen-superclamp friendly (in other words I couldnt stick my flash to it). Eventually after getting some work arounds, and banging up my guitar a bit, I finally was able to get some half descent shots that I felt could make it online...although nothing thats comming into my portfolio thats for sure. I really would have loved to have had a black background, some space, and a second red gelled flash bouncind some colour onto it, and me enough distance away so that any light hitting me wouldnt affect anything in the background.....sigh rarely is photography so ideal...unless you've got a light rigged studio...



anywais for the photochallenge pic you can click here.... for the self portraits of yours truly scroll further down
also if anyone can help me....why are my pictures loosing brightness when exported from lightroom! something is up! they were MUCH brighter on Lroom.....

Bangkok

Yaaaay! Bangkok pics. While I didnt get the oportunity to shoot as many as I would have liked (meh), mostly because the lack of a workable camera had something to do with it,  I did manage to get one or two pics I'm relatively happy with. Although I would have garnered at the oportunity to shoot all weekend in and out. 

I found Bangkok to be a particularly thriving city, much more impressive than Manila, which to be honest surprised me. They are light years ahead of the philippines, particularly in infrastructure, safety and government. Yet in other things they surprisingly fall behind, such as the locals inability to speak and comprehend a descent amount of english, despite the previous English occupation (in comparison in the Philippines its not difficult at all to find english speaking locals. However Thai roads, supermarkets and a foreigners ability to safely use a taxi are unsermountably much better than here I'm sorry to say. The city itself was a plethora of visual candy, buildings telling unsermountable ammounts of stories and showing a personality that just had me itching to yank the next tourists camera off his neck to start shooting. The touches of english Imperalism coupled with the countrys strong budhist and local history and architecture melded together to create a dynamic, almost patchworked city where one street could be the equivalent of oxford street in london, only to turn a corner and find a shady alley filled with prostitutes and pimps. Very interesting. Very dynamic. I must go back and shoot, once I have saved enough, and gotten my wide lens and a second flash. The oportunities to shoot are simply endless. 

Anywais I'll leave you with a few of my fave pics from the weekend. As usual the whole set can be found here