Category Archives: shrines
Snow on the shrine
It was snowing the other day, a rarity where I live, so I grabbed my 35mm and went out to snap a few.
The Peanut Gallery
At Nanzoin Temple in Fukuoka Prefecture (Japan of course) there are countless little statues of the funniest looking men. These statues have plaques with Japanese names on them. I’m not sure what the significance is – perhaps the names are people who have donated significant sums of money to the temple, perhaps they are temple members who have passed away and this is some kind of auspicious thing … I don’t know. There are hundreds of them and they (at a glance) seem to be pretty unique, I don’t know if there are two of the same or not.
Long time-no infrared!
I haven’t shot infrared for a while. I used to really LOVE IR, but then I found myself loosing interest in it. I think the reason was that I got into film. Film is so much more fun for me because of so much more hands-on involvement and the fact that I can only develop it once and not re-interpret it over and over until I’m happy with an image.
Despite this, I got the bug to shoot IR today, so I went out on a scooter ride with camera, tripod, and filters in tow. This is the cemetery and gate of a temple that I pass from time to time shot in 850nm infrared.
While shooting this, an old lady came out of the temple and started talking to me. At first I thought that she was mad that I was essentially trespassing and taking photos without asking. But she was nice and told me a little about the history. Apparently at some point in the past the whole temple burnt down, but the gate in this photo was the only part spared and thus the only original building left. If this was the U.S.A. the old lady probably would have called the police then screamed at me for trespassing. Japan tends to be very kind to photographers, in large part because people are responsible and don’t make a mess or trouble for others near as much as in other countries.
Mourning the passing of a great film ._. RIP Fuji Neopan Presto 400 120
I went to Yodobashi Camera in Hakata the other weekend after visiting a beautiful Buddhist temple and shooting some photos with my vintage Ricohflex TLR. I was deeply saddened when I went to buy some Fujifilm Neopan Presto 400 120-format and was told that it was discontinued!
WTF is Fujifilm thinking! Presto 400 was an amazing film that was pretty popular among film shooters. It had nice grain, nice accutance, nice contrast, was flexible (could easily be pushed and pulled), plus the film base and coatings were WONDERFUL making it go onto spools easily and dry flat compared to the sticky and curly nature of Kodak Tri-X (another film that I use.) I am so sad that I haven’t been shooting more film recently and didn’t know that it was discontinued (so I didn’t have a chance to stock up.) I only have 2 or 3 rolls laying around of this ;-(
This photo was on the afore mentioned film. This photo is very subtle and if you don’t have a well calibrated monitor, you may think it is a bit dark (I assure you it isn’t.)
An 1,100 year old tree
I’m sorry I haven’t posted much recently. I think the winter has got me lazy and feeling uncreative. The days are starting to get a bit sunnier and I’m feeling creative again.
I’ve shot a few 120 rolls of some nice shrines and temples that I want to post, in addition to many photos from my New Years trip to Korea still!
This is a 1,100 year old tree. It is on the grounds of a shrine in my city that has another 1,100 and a 1,400 year old tree!
A number of shrines and temples around my city have these ancient trees which are designated as special by the city and protected. What makes me sad and angry however is that Japanese towns and cities have very few trees compared to cities and towns in many western countries. The Japanese apparently cut them down and clear them out to build their claustrophobically close houses, apartments, and shops. While there are some small trees, if you go up into the hills as I often do and look down on a typical Japanese town, they look rather baron.
Given the number of ancient trees at shrines (I know of at 5 which are an easy bike ride from my apt), it’s fairly reasonable to conclude that this area that I live in should be full of ancient trees … but it isn’t. This makes me feel frustrated because the Japanese often have rather contradictory philosophies and practices. These contradictions often seem greater than the contradictions in my own culture. The Japanese try to "harmonize" with nature as many books about Japanese culture will point out. However there clearly make significant efforts to clear nature right out of towns and cities.
落ちる事が出来ない葉 (The leaf that couldn’t fall.)
落ち葉は風を恨まない。(Ochiba wa kaze o uramanai)
“The fallen leaf bears the wind no grudge.”
Umbrellas and shrines
This is the last one I am posting from this set. I really love the mood and feel of this photo.
Little Woman at a Big Temple
While out on a scooter ride I came across a buddhist temple in the hills outside a town. Everything was just a bit larger than normal. I took a photo of a small, old Japanese woman praying.
The perspective, the slightly larger than normal size of the temple and small (but not midgit) size of the woman made this really strange looking photo where she looks anusually small.
Sayonara Michael … ;_;
You were one of the most original, creative, unique entertainers that this world has ever or will ever see.
Sadly the more amazing you are in this world the more shit people give you. People can criticize your looks and call you a molester (even though you were found innocent and you must be extra skeptical of accusers who stand to gain a LOT with their accusations.) But none of that can overshadow the fact that Michael gave more to this world than almost anyone. I grew up with him, and even now that I live on the other side of this planet I still sing his songs along side Japanese people at karaoke who know him just as well as I do.
It’s ironic that just this past Monday my 7th graders watched a video about the making of "We Are the World" a project that Michael played a significant role in.
I will definitely do a lesson about Michael Jackson to ensure that my students, who grew up after his era, understand his great contributions and don’t just see the distorted images that the media loved to paint.
I’ll miss you man … お疲れさまでした。さようならポップの王様。
William Milberry
This photo is from the same roll of film as the previous. A roll of TriX 400 that I shot in the sunlight at 1600 and pushed 2 stops for a contrasty, grainy, artistic effect.
This statue is one of many around a Buddhist temple at the waterfall in the previous shot.
One could imagine that this photo was taken on the moon where, due to no atmosphere, there is no bright sky to fill in the shadows making sunlight surfaces bright and clear and shadows as black as night. In actuality, the sun was coming in from one angle, while the fill light from the sky from the opposite angle was blocked by trees. I didn’t take notes, but I don’t recall using any filters on this shot.
