*Morning Read*
Fuji XPAN + Fuji Portra 160
How the light hits a particular scene, especially on a sunny day, changes the scene complementely. What first attracted my eye here was the row of scooters (they look like guns!) and then of course the bearded guy engrossed in his sports newspaper…
*Night Pagoda*
Fuji XT3
Shooting the lanterns in long exposure at Senso-ji after dusk was comparatively easy (although I hadn’t realised that despite their size the lanterns would sway with the wind) but finding a way to shoot the pagoda was trickier. Thankfully I had my Platypod with me and was able to strap it to a tree. Shooting it through the branches, I thought would give it a different feel, and I’m really pleased with how it came out.
*Antique Vehicle*
Fuji XT2 (XPAN) + Fuji Pro 400H
I’ve already professed my love (and regret) for the defunct Dongtai Lu antique market in Shanghai. This is a shot I took that has people in it and not just antiques.
*Fox Shrine*
Fuji XT3
The Fushimi Inari shrine is an impressive place literally covered with massive orange shrines (and covered with tourists as well). When we went there, we half deliberately took a wrong turn and ended up walking a narrow dirt path into the woods for a couple of hours. In several places along the path were fantastic shrines to the fox protectors or Fushimi Inari. A multitude of small Torii with these male and female fox statues wearing red aprons. This is my best approximation of what these felt like.
*Castlefront*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Kodak Ultramax 400
Unsurprisingly, one of the things that’s great to shoot with the XPAN is wide buildings (when you can back enough, that is, 45mm is no wide angle…) This one was shot one dreary morning in Warsaw, I don’t even remember the place or where it was, but looking back on it, it’s a nice architectural horizontal, I think.
*Senso-ji at Night*
Fuji XT3
Sneso-ji at night was all it was supposed to be and more. But I had to try this one over ten times to get a decent result : long exposures theoretically erase people in front of you from the picture… except when they stand still for minutes on end in front of you to take photos. I can’t blame them, I was doing the same !
*Expired Dawn in Paris*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Kodak Ultramax 400 (Expired)
Shooting expired film is a crapshoot. You never know what will come out of it, and you can get wonderful results, or entirely useless shots. It’s especially true with colour film. This photo of the Parc Monceau at dawn came out real nice, with lovely warm colours.
*Ladle Abstract*
Fuji XT3
In the Shintoist shrines in Kyoto (and, I’m assuming, elsewhere in Japan) there often are these beautiful little basins with wooden ladles in front of them that worshippers use to clean their hands. When I walked into this temple near Gion after nightfall I was struck by the contrast between the clear wood of the ladles and the dark surroundings. I shot from above, not really seeing what I was framing. It turned out to be more interesting than I thought, in a quasi abstract way.
*Illuminated*
Fuji XT3
Wandering around Gion at night, I stumbled upon this large temple complex (I think it’s the Yasaka Shrine.) In particular, the numerous paper lantern on this dance stage illuminated the area in a really cool way. I waited for some passers by and got this shot out of it, which I find really moody.
*Kimonos & Vending Machine*
Fuji XT3
There are so many vending machines in the streets of Japan, that I was bound to encounter something very traditional in front of a vending machine. It’s likely that these ladies are Chinese tourists disguised in kimonos rather than authentic Japanese ladies, but still, the clash between ancient and modern is quite on display here…
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