7 February 2008 Three Random Kyoto Shots
Here are a few shots taken all within about an hour of each other while wandering around Kyoto, killing time between my bookstore wanderings/pasta lunch and heading back home.
These were all taken with my 50mm f1.2 lens, before loaning it to Jeffrey to take scary pictures of me with. I like walking around with a prime, which just means a lens that doesn’t zoom. At the beginning of the day you decide what the field of your photographic vision will be for that day, and then you find opportunities to fit that. Zooms are so flexible they end up being less fun. Yes, it’s a little paradox, finding more enjoyment by limiting yourself, but it’s not like I’m writing entire novels without the letter “e” or anything.
This building could easily predate WWII. Some form of restaurant I’d be scared to enter. I was amused by the contrast between the architecture and the poster for the new West Side Story production in Osaka.
Monk sweeping up in front of his temple.
I’ve always liked this temple. You have to enlarge the photo to really see it, but there is a children’s play area right through that impressive gate. Almost as though the Pure Land promised by this particular sect of Buddhism is just one big jungle gym…
(Click to enlarge, or you ain’t never going to Pure Land…)
1 comment in “Three Random Kyoto Shots”
February 13th, 2008 at 7:35 am
Hello Zach,
Don’t be afraid of these types of places. Your camera might find it interesting and the one in your head will not forget it. This in fact is an unagi specialty restaurant. You can find unagi prepared in multiple ways and I can vouch that all are delicious. It is an oasis of old Kyoto in the midst of the ever changing, and not always for the better, downtown area.
Next time you are in the area and have the desire for a very nice refreshment, drop in there for some shirayaki and a bit of sake. They are welcoming to all. If you get there let me know your opinion.
S. Tomaszewski