Nikko

Our next destination is Nikko. We made a pit stop in Ueno first before heading for Nikko by the first train in the morning.


It was quite an experience. The ticket counter that sells the passes opens only 30mins before the first train. To make things worse, it is located to the back of the station, almost near the alley way. Finally, it is blocked by the shutter door!


Despite all these, we managed to get our tickets and board the first train. We were totally unprepared for Nikko in late spring. When the train finally pulled into the station, we were still in disbelief - it was snowing!


Nonetheless, we still pushed on our itinerary. Here are some shots from the first day.

To Nara, to Nara

Back on the Japan Trip. After a very brief stop at Himeji Castle, we were on our way to Nara. I have been there once before, in 1993. I recall it was easy to get around the huge Nara park: 1 straight road, I remember. But I couldn't be more wrong.


It was not difficult, it just was not as easy as I had imagined. Hence I was totally unprepared, and in the end, we barely reached the temple before closing time. Luckily the trip back was uneventful.

Out of Topic

Its been a few weeks since my last post. I have been troubled by my lack of new works for the past few months. Though I blame it on the weather, but I know I did not make as much effort as I would like to have. My photobook project is coming to a close for the Japan trip, hence I am taking a bit more time for posting.


Anyhow, I came across this blog post by Ian Plant. I have been subscribing to his RSS feeds. This particular entry strike a cord. There are many times I have a certain image in my mind that I wanted to find the right scene to capture, even though it might not exist. But in the course of looking for that perfect scene to convey my idea, I missed many good takes along the way.


Here, enjoy this post: Don’t Wear “Pre-Visualization Blinders”

First sunrise

By then, we were almost half way into our trip, and still no good weather for sunrise or sunset shoot yet. That day was our day trip to visit the Himeji Castle and Nara park. As our itinerary does not start till 8am, I took a risk and ride the 5am train to Osaka Castle.

I was rewarded with the best sunrise yet. Clear sky, deep saturated colours that gradually changed from deep blue to deep orange. The only pickle: I cannot get anywhere near the castle! Such was meant to be.

This is my best attempt at the castle in the morning. Next to me was an old man using film camera. I did not want to invade his space but from what I can see, I think it was probably the likes of Canon A1 or Nikon F2.

Following which we had the shortest visit to Himeji Castle before the authorities install scaffolding around the castle for restoration. It will be another 3 years or so before they complete it. Till then.

Path of Philosophy

The rain came just in time to ruin my chance of shooting that moon bridge. Pardon me, I forgot its name.


After the rain, and lunch, we took a bus to the silver temple (Ginkakuji). From there we started the walk down the Path of Philosophy. It was only the first few days of the sakura bloom, so the number of flowers on the trees were limited. The number of trees having the flowers were also limited. 1 week from then, it would have been mankai (full bloom). Here are some pictures of the path and of Kyoto.

Day out in Kyoto

I have always had high expectations of Kyoto. It is supposed to be the embodiment of what is quintessentially Japan. The Geishas at Gion area, the temples, the rickshaws, the many folks walking about in Kimonos, etc.

But this day, my expectation was ever so high as we were planning to walk the Path of Philosophy under the cherry blossoms. More on that later.

We started off with very good weather. Blue sky. Nice cool breeze. Off we go to the Arashiyama area, to visit not the Tenryu-ji Temple, but the famed bamboo forest that I read about by chance. It is not easy to find as the guides did not explain its location well.

After some misadventures, we finally found it. And just in time, the rain came.

Wet.Wet.Wet.

Seems like I always need to make the same mistake twice to learn. It was so for our Japan trip in April. Then the same for our Europe trip in November.


Lesson: NEVER go for trip during the change of seasons, especially Autumn to Winter and Winter to Spring.


What we end up with is cloudy/foggy/rainy weather more than half the time. This is especially evident during our Osaka leg. Lucky for us, malls like Shinsaibashi is sheltered for the whole stretch. We ended up strolling the malls. But to my surprise, it is really quite interesting, the shops there.


Here are some wet weather pictures from Shinsaibashi.

Back to Japan

2 of my favourite travel countries are devastated by earthquakes: Japan and New Zealand. What is even more coincidental is that just 1 week before the Tsunami hit Japan, my wife commented that she would like to visit Sendai as it is less packed with tourists compared to Tokyo or Kansai area.


Anyhow, my story stopped at my first stopover in Hakone. To wrap it up, here are 3 more pictures that I have re-processed (yes, with Lightroom).


1) I have had this image for over a year, but only recently developed it to the image that I had in mind when I first took it. It is for reasons like these that makes me enjoy re-visiting some of my older works.

2) This is nothing spectacular, just this van is very 80s.

3) this is the last morning before we left Hakone for Osaka. Foggy morning. Unfortunately, I was still rather inexperienced to make use of it suitably.

New Brighton Beach, Christchurch New Zealand

Probably my last post on New Zealand, in a while at least. This is another beach that I really enjoyed. Fine sands, long stretch of coast and wide. The gradient of the beach is really low and the waves takes forever to reach the shore. My only regret is that I did not do any long exposures, and my attempt to stitch failed.


Here are 3 shots that made it out. 2 are in the morning and the 3rd is at sunset.

Birds of New Zealand

Ok, I admit this title is way too ambitious and oversell, but it was not until my visit to New Zealand that I started photographing birds. Actually, I still hardly photograph animals, so these are probably the only shots I am ever going to have of animals.

A Taste of Autumn

1 of the things that left a deep impression in me about New Zealand is the deep yellow leave against the clear blue sky during autumn. Having had no experience in the seasons, this was 1 thing I looked forward to during my trip.


And my, it did not disappoint.

Even the road sides are pretty

Back to my New Zealand story. I am now almost done with all my pictures from the trip. Having a second look back at them, I cannot help but realise - even the pictures that I snapped off the road side are so pretty.


It is not just the low angle, warm sun rays; the green pastures; the morning mists; but the way it all interacted and pieced together.


I put together a few of them road side snaps from various parts of the South Island.

Is this competition worthy?

Recently some friends got excited about a panoramic photography competition: the Epson International Photography Pano Awards. I ran through my entire stock and found out that I have NOTHING of interest to submit! All except this one. Is this interesting enough?

Arts and Science Museum, MBS

I have the good fortune of visiting the new Arts and Science Museum for free last Friday as part of a department retreat. For a museum with a shape of a lotus, I was a bit surprised it did not get that much fanfare and attention. Perhaps dwarfed by the main attraction of the Marina Bay Sands - the Casino.


Say what you may, but by naming a casino "Integrated Resort" does not even begin to disguise what it really is. And all its attempt to disguise the fact with its peripheral resort-like attractions merely insult the level of intelligence of its population.


Nonetheless, I was glad to be able to visit it for free. The entrance fee would have set me back by SG$27. I thought the National Museum of Singapore did a better job at making history widely available to the public. Seeing as how the building is lotus-shaped, one cannot help but wonder: where are the exhibits housed?


Very little space is left, I should say. There are several event rooms and halls aligned in circles in the basement, levels 2 and 3. Not a usual museum goer nor an art lover, I shall leave my comments about the exhibits. Here are some pictures of the museum.