Category: Summer

A bridge in the woods over a stream

A Bridge In The Woods Of Nagano

I’ve tried to be more pointed in my photography throughout this year. That is to say, when I go someplace, I try to have a better idea of what I want to shoot, rather than just wandering around aimlessly shooting anything and everything. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with shooting like that, but with landscape photography, especially when you’re doing long exposures and/or working with a very specific lighting situation, discipline can be...
Ryugaeshi Falls Nagano

Ryugaeshi Falls

This past week I was able to take part in a church retreat in Nagano Prefecture, which was great in and of itself! But since Nagano is a beautiful prefecture full of amazing natural scenery, I had to take advantage of the opportunity on my way home, which led to a visit to Ryugaeshi Falls (竜返しの滝). This waterfall is just outside of Karuizawa along the Shiraito Highland Highway, and thus easy to access. The nearby...
Stepping stones in stream

Step Stone Woods of Mt Mitake

I’ve been sitting on this shot since I took it last September while hiking around Mt. Mitake. I did an edit a while back on my iPad, and I liked it, but I thought I could do better, so I gave it a go in Photoshop over the last week or so. A lot of subtle but important edits went into this image, primarily centered around coloring and lighting. Most of the coloring edits were...
Photo of storms over Japan

Summer Storms Over Japan

Last night I took an impromptu trip to check out the Chiba Port Tower with my daughter. It’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and in Japan that means lots of humidity, heat, and otherwise fatigue inducing weather. As a photographer, that’s not especially inspiring to go out and shoot, but it has been several weeks at least since I really went out just to shoot last, so I figured a nice indoor observatory would be...
Les Taylor Photography

A Yomiuri Giants Game at Tokyo Dome

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to a Yomiuri Giants game at Tokyo Dome with my oldest daughter and some good friends of ours. We had a blast! As both a photographer and a baseball fan, I thought I’d share the experience through photos and talk about a few of the differences I noticed between American and Japanese baseball. This was actually my first ball game at an indoor baseball stadium. I...