Photographing Summer Fireworks
Everyone loves fireworks! They’re beautiful, bright, and just generally awesome. And no matter where you live, you’re likely to have at least one day during the year when your town hosts a grand fireworks display. In Japan this is certainly the case, particularly during the month of August, when fireworks festivals are held across the country. As a photographer, a fireworks display is lots of fun to shoot, but it can also seem a bit...
Cherry Blossom Street in Matsudo
In my town here in Japan there’s a great little street known as sakura dori (Sakura Road) which is lined for probably 1 or 2 kilometers with Cherry Blossoms. They usually have a big festival on this road but last year the season came very early and unfortunately they weren’t able to do it. I still go to visit the road though and take some photos. This photo isn’t technically great for a lot of...
Frozen Protector
This is another photo from one of the big snows we had around Japan in February. The statue here is called “komainu” – a lion/dog which is believed by some to protect the nearby shrine from evil spirits. I don’t know about that, but I do know it makes for an interesting photographic subject and I’ve often been interested by this particular angle, but until it snowed I had a hard time getting a shot...
Orange Autumn Evening at Matsudo Jinja
Although Spring is on the way, it feels to me like Autumn was only yesterday. I think part of the reason is that the Autumn colors this year seemed to last for a while. The Autumn of 2012 didn’t seem nearly as colorful to me, especially around where I live. But this year the colors lasted well into December. Not that I’m complaining – it was a beautiful sight, and gave me plenty of opportunity...
Frozen Shadows
This is another photo I took with my wife’s Nikon J1 during Tokyo’s most recent snowstorm. I was a bit frustrated to see yet another storm come and this time not have my camera, but she was gracious enough to lend me hers – under the condition I not let the same happen to her camera that happened to mine! So this time I took with me a large umbrella and held that the entire...