Shrines, Cleansing and Peaceful Times (Japan – Autumn 2018 Day 18)
This morning when I woke I already knew what I wanted to do with my day… there was no question that I wanted to visit as many less-frequented temples as possible while I was in Kyoto… I already had a basic idea of which ones I wanted to see so I planned a tentative route to the three that stuck out as being the most interesting that I should see.
Near our rented apartment there were some small shrines and temples, so there were definitely no shortage of places to visit… over 1600 temples and shrines exist in Kyoto so you are bound to find some place to relax or worship that is very near where you are at any given moment – this was evident just in walking on the main road down the hill from the apartment, where I passed at least 5 minor temples on my way toward my destination.
I wondered if the locals were jaded toward the existence of so many temples and shrines because they have just always been around or if they feel privileged because they know how special this place is. I found myself thinking that if I was given the choice to live in either Tokyo or Kyoto, I’d choose Kyoto.
In Kyoto you have big city things to do, neighborhood things to do and the added bonus of all of those temples. Plus, mountains surround three sides of the city so there is no shortage of outdoor activities that one can find to do, and if you know me then you know that I do love to hike and spend quite a bit of time in nature.
Theme of the day was definitely temples. I felt that this was the perfect way to continue the journey for peace and refreshment that I began the night before at Imakumano Temple… I wanted to fully embrace the tranquility that I have been seeking so diligently the past couple of months, to leave pain and sad thoughts in the wake of my determined steps toward healing.
On my way to some specific points, I saw all manner of temples, and I stopped at a few that seemed interesting. One such place was at Gojobashihigashi, which contains the Otani Mausoleum, Jippo-Ji Temple, Tsumyo-ji Temple, Myoken-do Temple, and Myoken Daibosatsu Myokendo… phew that’s a lot of important places!
At the first gate I found that there was the first stamp in a stamp rally! I learned that there were 4 stamps located throughout the complex and they supplied a leaflet to stamp each one… I ended up just stamping my Moleskine that I had with me.
The lady in the photo above was praying for such a very long time… I only understood words here and there but she sounded so sincere and thankful that I wanted to capture the moment.
Near the offery was another stamp. I waited until those around had finished making their offerings before I stamped my book, and then I moved on toward one of my destinations.
Onward I walked, and soon I found myself at one of the main destinations that I was seeking… Yasui Konpiragu Shrine. Located in the Gion district, this shrine is located on the grounds of Horyu-in Temple and is unusual because of it’s Power Stone…. it is said that if you wish to end a bad relationship and/or initiate new good relationships, then you make your wish, crawl through the center of the stone and back, bow, then adhere your wish to the stone on a slip of paper.
Yes, I did purchase a slip of paper, write my wishes and stand in line for 45 minutes… totally worth it.
Now, if you ask me, a stone really holds no power other than being good at standing still and in this case, holding thousands of papers on it’s surface (with the help of glue) . That, however, did not dissuade me from completing this ritual. It seemed an important thing for me to complete, an outward demonstration (at least to myself) of leaving some very unfortunate life altering situations behind me and moving on with the purpose of having a fulfilling life not dragged down with sadness.
It took a while to make it to the front of the line. Thankfully the sunny day was not too warm or too humid, so I did not mind things taking a little longer than would be optimal.
From a distance, the hole in the rock looked very very small and I had a growing concern that I would actually be able to make it through that hole without getting stuck! However observation told me that those with a waistline… erm, much larger than my own, were able to make it through so my fears were soon laid to rest.
Closer and closer I inched, and suddenly I found myself faced with this:
It kinda looks like it should be a Hobbit house, except… it’s too small for that. Phone at the ready to film myself go through, I got on my belly and slid through. Easy peasy! Now, to crawl back… I thought perhaps that I could crawl through with no problem since I’m a skinny person… left knee forward… uh oh… STUCK! I did not take into account that my legs are longer than the average person going through that hole, and so it was a big NOPE on crawling through! I had to back out a bit to get my leg un-stuck, and then I slid through on my belly again, quite embarassed already because I could hear laughter, but also people had their phones out and were filming me. Oh dear. Now I’ll be all over the internet, the gaijin who got stuck. Memes would be made of my ordeal and my embarrassment celebrated over and over. I turned to the stone, bowed, looked at the ground and hurried around back of the stone to apply glue to my wish-on-paper.
I adhered my paper to the stone, and still felt the flush of embarrassment. I could not bring myself to look anyone in the eye lest I catch someone mocking me. Hurry away I did not though… I paused to take more photos of the rest of the grounds.
On my map I noticed a park nearby that was not terribly far away, and decided to check it out. I had been near there back in 2014 but did not enter because time was limited and we were on the way to other things. On the way I passed by Yasaka Shrine and spotted these beautiful sisters:
I paused and offered to take their photo together – they happily accepted! I wish that I had remembered to also take a photo with my own phone so that I could have had the memory! They also took a selfie with me which was very sweet! Again, I forgot to get my own phone out… how sad!
Onward I went, but I diverted my route so that I could walk along the Shirokawa, which is quite a beautiful and simple neighborhood. No fancy houses… just older homes that have a lot of charm. I found the Furukawamachi Bridge, a foot bridge that is maybe one foot wide? I crossed it with a little concern, and made sure to take a video as I tried to keep my balance.
Once safely across the “scary” bridge, I continued my walk. Along the way I saw an old sign:
I also saw a pair of tanooki in a stream – an out of place pyramid rests on the street above them. I cannot help but feel like I was in that exact same spot looking at the exact same items during July of 2014… now I have to go back through the photo archives and look (when I return to the US of A) because this will haunt me until I do.
Next stop: Narnia, AKA Murin-An Garden. Built between 1894 & 1896 by Yamagata Aritomo, a Prime Minister during the Meji Period. His vision was realized by the Japanese master gardener Ogawa Jihee, who also designed a few other famous gardens.
410 Yen admission is a paltry sum considering the sheer delight that this garden brought to my eye and the solace to my spirit… pay at the window to the left of the entrance, and then you are directed through a small door, which even people shorter than I need to bow their heads to get through:
I stepped through and was dazzled by the sight that I beheld: A wonderfully landscaped garden with both Japanese and Western influences welcoming wanderers into it’s harmoniously peaceful scenes accompanied by a symphony of gently flowing water, lullabies of songbirds and the occasional faint trumpet of elephants, who live nearby in the Kyoto Zoo.
What joy sprang to my heart! I slowly meandered through the gardens, allowing myself to slow down and fully drink in every sight, smell, sound and feel that I was experiencing around me… I felt quite at home and relaxed… usually I feel a bit as if I have to behave a certain way in a formal garden but this seemed to be a more natural place, like walking in the woods, except that it was clearly a structured garden but artfully so, because so many nooks seemed so natural, as if they had always been there.
I took a few hundred photos in this beautiful garden and it was difficult to narrow it down to those that I included here. If these seem redundant, I heartily apologize to you, Dear Reader, if your eyes glaze over or roll back into your head for a moment… but I simply could not resist putting these choice photos here for my own pleasure. Thank you for your indulgence.
How much time I spent in the garden I could not tell you, for I literally let go of all sense of time and just… existed for a while. A rare thing it is for me to let myself unwind to this point as I am always planning something or working out some puzzle in my head.
Before leaving, I paused at the teahouse to sit on the veranda – the last photo above is from that vantage point. Once sufficiently rested I moved on, unsure of exactly where I was going to next.
My feet ended up taking me deeper into the Gion District, a part of Kyoto that hither to fore I had not seen much of. Keep in mind that my previous visits had very short time constraints and were more like whirlwind tours of temples and shrines.
My feet took me to the grounds of Nanzen-ji Temple, I knew nothing about them except that they were a 15 minute walk away… I am very glad that I went there because there were more awesome surprises awaiting.
It turns out that there are a few temples on the ground, with the main Nanzen-ji being one of the Great 5 temples of Kyoto… I was surprised to learn this as there were very few tourists there… perhaps because it is more out of the center of town? I do not know, but having no crowds to deal with was again, exactly what I wanted and needed for this day.
Here I purchased an incense stick, lit it and put it into the censer, said a prayer and tossed a coin into the offery. This place had an overwhelming sense of welcoming, and I was surprised to see locals going right past and ignoring this wonderful place
Offerings and respects paid, I moved on further into the complex, where I saw what appeared to be a small grove of trees… I was indeed correct, there was a small grove of trees but I did not expect to find…
A western-style aqueduct?!?! Puzzled, I investigated further. It seems that this aqueduct connects to Lake Biwa, and used to bring water into the city! Parts of the aqueduct are under repairs after some years of neglect. It is a popular place for people to gather and take photos – this one above is from my iPhone, but I did get a few shots with my DSLR that are waiting to be edited – that will be in a later post.
I was delighted to find such a treasure on my wanderings and I spent a bit of time here taking photos.
Soon I moved on, for I wanted to catch a view of the setting sun from Kiyomizu-dera… through Gion I walked and found a parade? OH! It was theThe Jidai Matsuri—”Festival of Ages” which commemorates the founding of Kyoto as the Imperial capital by the Emperor Kammu in 794… this is quite the affair, as a procession of over 2000 people in costumes from every era of Japanese history leave the Imperial Palace grounds in the morning and walk along a route that is several kilometers long, ending at the Heian Jingu Shrine.
(I looked this up as I snapped the photos) – a total surprise and a very happy one at that!
I was near the Heian Jingu Shrine, so I was literally seeing the last 10 minutes of the procession – I am very happy that I was able to witness this!
As the last of the costumed people went by, I quickly took my leave in an attempt to get ahead of the throngs of people that would soon be flooding the streets. Up up up the hills I went, and I found the meandering streets of Gion charming…
A few more tourists and touristy stores were here, mixed in with stores filled with handcrafted goods and foods… then my eyes spotted a small coffee stand, and then my eyes spotted a sign that said “Portland Roasting Coffee” and I had to stop!
Grateful for a cup of really good hand poured coffee and thanked by an even more grateful shopkeeper, I was also welcomed by another customer, who heard me talking with the barista about me being from Portland, where the coffee was roasted.
This friendly face was from Australia, near Adelaide… I never did catch her name but I am inclined to think that she will never fade from my memory. I sat next to her on a comfortable wooden bench, coffee in hand and had a nice conversation… we talked about coffee, about our respective homes and lives… and even touched on some deeper things. I never did get her name. She had to dash off after our 40 minute conversation to return her bicycle rental, which was due to be turned in shortly as she was heading back to Australia the next day
I wasn’t terribly far from Kiyomizu Dera so I quickened my pace, determined to catch the setting sun but alas, too many interesting things were vying for my attention… stopping to snap a couple of quick photos turned into more photos, more stopping and delaying my arrival to a vantage point to view that sunset. Clearly it was more about the journey for me today, rather than an ultimate destination.
On the winding streets of the mountain that lead up to Kiyomizu-dera, I found the Yasaka Kōshin-dō, whose full name is Daikoku-san Kongō-ji Kōshin-dō – one of Kyoto’s most colorful shrines… yet another surprise! I paused here for a bit and people watched.
A little investigation told me that these multi colored fabric “balls” are actually in the shape of Kukurizaru, a monkey with bound feet and hands.In Kōshin belief, it represents the control of the playful and desire-driven creature everyone has inside his body, according to Wikipedia. One writes their desire on the ball and by tying this ball with their desire to the shrine, a sacrifice is made… the desire vanishes, and thus a wish can be granted… it is said that desire keeps one’s wishes from coming true.
Many selfies and portraits being taken at the shrine.
I unintentionally followed these two up the path toward the Yasaka Pagoda… It wasn’t until I snapped this photo that I realized it was the same couple!
Onwards to Kiyomizu-dera I went – by this time I knew that I’d miss watching the sun go down, but would be able to witness at least the afterglow:
Tired and incredibly hungry, I message my Swedish friends… the guys wanted to do their own thing but Paulina was willing to grab some dinner.
We met up at home and then walked to the downtown area and a Yodobashi… we proceeded to the floor with all of the restaurants and ended up choosing a Chinese place for dinner, which was pretty good. Soup dumplings were had, but frankly didn’t have much broth in them, which was disappointing. I could not help but wish that it was Din Tai Fung!
… aaaaand since we were in a Yodobashi, we HAD to check out their extensive selection of Gashapon!
Walking home, near the Kamo-gawa river I spotted this shrine… which seemed really really familiar and then it hit me that I had passed by and observed this very same shrine on my first visit in 2014… I had remarked at the time how out of place this shrine seemed, and it still seemed so… but definitely a nice thing to find!
Turns out that I walked for almost 13 miles that day… around 20 kilometers – on my feet there were a few blisters as a physical reminder, and and in my heart, memories that will last me a lifetime. Indeed, I did find what I was seeking that day, and much much more. Peace was welling within and confidence that the tender bud of hope was starting to grow, a promise that healing would soon bloom.
Livin’ The Life in Ginza… or at least pretending to! (Japan – Autumn 2018 Day 8)
Four days ago I read that one of my favorite soft vinyl toy artists had a show at the FewMany shop in Loft – on the 6th floor and I hoped that it was still active.
It was with these hopes that I arrived in Ginza with Paulina at my side, and these hopes were crushed when I walked up to find that a new art exhibit had taken it’s place. I did have a consolation, however, because they had a nice selection of VAG gasha machines that I was very happy to find!
I dashed to the cashier and got change, dashed back to the machines and made my selections!
I ended up with one new Morris, a duplicate Morris, two Konatsu special run sea otters (one of which I gave to a special friend) and one of those baby tart things that creep me out, but I have to get because I do love creepy things.
Paulina and I decided to roam around, so we headed to the main street where all of the upscale stores are… we contented ourselves with taking photos of the buildings and not actually shopping haha! So that I am not posting a bunch of boring photos of buildings, here are just two:
I made a friend while roaming around in Ginza – why does this Daruma have a mustache? We may never know, but he’s adorable regardless.
Whilst roaming around we made plans to meet up with Chris for dinner and he also suggested that we go to the Ginza Six observatory… I am very glad that he did because that place was fantastic!
The views were awesome…
This rooftop was so nice – grass, trees and plants everywhere, water features and plenty of opportunities for photographs and selfies too.
Oh, I should post a few photos that I took:
After a long while taking in the beautiful views, we moved on to dinner. Since I was craving noodles, Chris suggested that we go to a place that specializes in Udon dishes that happened to be nearby… Tsuru Ton Tan Udon. I was excited to try a place that had udon as their focus, since I’ve never had Udon outside of pre-packaged meals or mediocre fast food.
This place was INCREDIBLE! Not only was the view great but the food was affordable and definitely high-end… I would expect the prices to be double for food of this quality back in the States.
After dinner a sleepy Chris bid us a good night… Paulina and I continued on to UNIQLO to look for presents and Disney shirts, respectively.
After the partially successful shopping side quest we decided to go home… on our way to the station we heard the sound of some very hot cars coming down the street, and they stopped half a block in the opposite direction but needless to say we HAD to go see these awesome cars and I was blown away by two gorgeous Lamborghinis!
Thus ended our day in Ginza on what was definitely a high note! We took our tired feet back toward the train station and saw many a salary man also doing the same (and a few that were possibly drunk from post-work dinner and drinks!)
Laid Back Day (Japan – Autumn 2018 Day 7)
It was just one of those mornings where I did not want to do or think about anything important… so I didn’t. Well, sort of.
Our AirBnB has been cozy but also not healthy – the entire bottom floor has a moisture problem, which I am certain is perpetuated by tennants not taking good care to ventilate the place and the owner not properly cleaning. The shower area was a disaster… mold and mildew everywhere, and I don’t mean just a little… A LOT.
Cleaning supplies were purchased… and I spent almost two hours yesterday morning just scrubbing the shower and tub area.
T W O H O U R S. It’s a small area too but there is tile and every single tile grout surface had mold. I was really tired after that so I took a shower and rested, then tidied up in one of the living areas. For someone who doesn’t have kids, I surely get into “mom” mode a lot.
The guys had been out at Karaoke the night before and all had hangovers… Paulina and I made plans to meet up with Chris for lunch at A Happy Pancake – a restaurant that serves soufflé pancakes! I have been seeing videos for a couple of years about them… Simon and Martina’s video on YouTube stands out as the one that REALLY made me want to try these pancakes. You can watch that here:
Paulina and I took a train to Omotesando…
we had some time to kill before meeting up with Chris so we decided to walk around the winding backstreets of the area to look at the trendy shops where you can find all manner of things… from used clothing to high end fashion and every item in between.
One of our destinations was B-Side Label, a store that I always make a point to visit when I am in Tokyo… their stickers are all made right there, and the artists that provide designs are all local as well so this makes me feel good about purchasing items there.
Every trip into this store is a sensory bombardment, from the colorful stickers and products to the employees filled with personality and friendly conversation… once again I forgot to actually take photos IN the store but here is a photo of the outside!
As per usual, I had a difficult time choosing exactly what labels would be coming home with me and to make the choice an even more difficult one, they had limited run Halloween editions of some of their favorite designs as well as new Halloween designs – that’s mostly what I purchased, since one they’re gone… they’re gone.
After spending a long while at B-Side, we wandered toward the main street toward Kiddeland and found some… unusual stickers on the pedestrian overpasses – this is one of the things that I enjoy about Omotesando & Harajuku… random stickers and grafitti.
We browsed Kiddeland and then heard from Chris that he had arrived near the location of the soufflé pancakes, so we met him there.
A Happy Pancake did not disappoint! The atmosphere was bright and refreshing – despite being on the basement level of a building, the green theming and large wall displaying photos and videos of outdoor scenes and plants set the mood for happy interaction – the three of us had a lovely time talking and consuming delicious foods.
I have never tasted a pancake quite like this – it’s texture is indeed similar to a soufflé but a bit more heavy… it has inspired me to try this out when I return to Vancouver in December… having never made a soufflé of any sort I cannot predict if my outcome will be a pleasant one or not but I have eaten enough soufflé to know if it’s actually good or not!
After pancakes I was craving some good coffee. Chris did a quick search online and found a trendy pour over place nearby. We walked to our destination and waited a half hour before we realized that this was more of an experience than anything… one person to guide you through the process of choosing your coffee and educating you on it’s origins… one person to make the coffee. There were six people ahead of us and it took 3 a half hour to get their coffee so we decided to look elsewhere and possibly come back to this place another day.
A new place for coffee was found fairly quickly… and just up the street a few blocks. It turned out to be a blessing because both the coffee and the chai that we tried were amazing – neither needed sugar added, a sign to me that this is superior coffee indeed.
Drinks at Higuma Doughnuts x Coffee Wrights were excellent! I definitely want to come back here and try the other drinks that they offer.
Chris departed after the consumption of coffee and chai, Paulina and I continued on to Harajuku in search of a store that Paulina wanted to visit called Alice on Wednesday.
As the name suggests, it was indeed an Alice in Wonderland themed shop, very cleverly decorated… lots of cute things here but nothing that particularly spoke to me. I’d like to have this table though:
Browsing done, we went to Takashita Dori, the main street in Harajuku. It was getting late and as it was a weekday, many shops were closed so it was not too crowded with people, which is a pleasant change from the usual.
Since businesses were starting to close, we decided to call it a night and took our tired feet home.
Day #76 – A Photo A Day 2013
It’s late! I’m just now getting around to posting today’s pic, one that I snapped two weeks ago when I was roaming around San Francisco. (I miss my new home! Returning there in two days yay!)
San Francisco has no shortage of interesting things to look at and in turn, for me to photograph. 😉
This cow hangs above the door of The Holy Cow Nightclub – when I first moved to San Francisco, this cow was one of the first things that greeted me but then he was a metallic gold! I walked past here hoping to get a better pic than I did last time, but now he’s such a lovely shade of neon pink that I didn’t mind that the gold was gone. 🙂
I used Tangled FX and Photo FX to edit this photo.
Day #75 – A Photo A Day 2013
Pre-existing image templates provide a world of creativity that really sparks my imagination. It’s fun to see what other photographers have captured and it is a challenge to incorporate those photos into my own to make a blending of two people’s creativity.
So many apps have these images available either for free or for a nominal download fee but so far my favorite has been Filtermania 2 from Dropico. I used images from their library on today’s photo, which began as some stormy clouds that were outside of Ultrazone when I was there on Friday evening:
Using pre-existing image templates for enhancing or completely changing an edit is something that I have frequently done but I think it’s time that I start making my own templates. I’m having fun with these pre-existing templates and they are a creative tool that is wonderful to have at my fingertips, but I would like to add more of myself into my projects, and I feel that this is one way that I can accomplish this.
Day #74 – A Photo A Day 2013
Another quick post for the day!
I snapped a quick photo as I was driving east on Hwy 14 in Vancouver, WA – Mt. Hood is in the distance:
Tangled FX with multiple effects layered, then I did a bit of a tilt-shift effect to soften the clouds and bring the focus down to the vanishing point.
Day #73 – A Photo A Day 2013
A quick post for today – a snap I took on Mount Sutro last week:
I used Tangled FX layered with a couple of effects and then altered the trees and tree tops with ElastiCam. I obsess over the details, so this edit took quite a bit of time.
Day #70 – A Photo A Day 2013
Quick post today – I have much left to do today (I’m in Portland visiting family and friends!) but I’m still committed to making my daily posts!
Today’s is #3 from the #7faceless challenge that Sumsion challenged us to on Instagram:
Day #69 – A Photo A Day 2013
My hike to/on Mount Sutro yielded more shots than I originally thought. As I have gone back to look at all of the pictures that I snapped that day I was pleased with more shots than I anticipated so that means that I’m not done posting photos here from that day. 🙂
I used a subtle effect from Tangled FX to give those lupine leaves just a little more definition and then converted the picture to black and white. Simple, quick and easy! The leaves already looked really fuzzy (and in reality were really really soft!) but I wanted that definition to really stand out in the photo since the tactile sensation is impossible to actually transmit through the viewing of a picture.
Day #68 – A Photo A Day 2013
Since I posted a rather serious picture yesterday it seemed fitting that I post Day #2 of Sumsion’s #7faceless challenge – it’s a much more light hearted post!
Yesterday’s photo was all about a time in my life when things seemed dark and un-fixable, a very sad time for me. Today’s picture is all about where I am today – joyful and content, rejoicing in my life and in the wonderful blessings that I enjoy every day:
I really didn’t do much editing to this one – just added a vignette and toned down the colors a teeny bit.
It took SO MANY TAKES to actually capture my dancing without having my face in focus! I finally just twirled several times to get the effect I wanted and even then I took a lot of photos before I finally found one that seemed suitable within the confines of this challenge.
Life is good!
Day #67 – A Photo A Day 2013
Instagram has been one way that I have been sharing my photography for two years now and in those two years I have found quite a few amazing artists that have greatly encouraged me to continue pushing the envelope of my creativity.
One of people who has influenced me the most is Sumsion – I was going to link to his Statigram page, but he’s turned off public viewing, which is disappointing to me because I would love to share his work here as well. (he is simply amazing!)
Sumsion’s latest challenge is a self-portrait challenge but the trick is to not have your face in focus. So far, this has been a very difficult challenge for me!
This is my first submission:
When I uploaded this to Instagram, some people that know me in “real life” were concerned because it seemed a bit dark. I explained that this is not representative of me now, but rather that it was how I felt at a certain point in time in my past – I felt like who I was had been completely blown away, destroyed and empty. I was having difficulty deciding just how to begin this challenge until a conversation I had earlier that day reminded me of that dark time and inspiration hit me.
I knew immediately what I wanted to do with my self-portrait, and after a couple of hours of experimentation, I found the right combination of app layering to actually achieve what you see here. This was a difficult one to actually upload for public consumption on Instagram – I felt like I was revealing quite a bit of myself without telling all of the personal details and I felt a bit of trepidation as I hit that upload button.
Immediately after, I felt almost a feeling of relief akin to happiness in that moment.
These challenges that Sumsion has presented to his followers have not only been pivotal points that have pushed me creatively but have also been instrumental in self-exploration and have taught me quite a bit about myself, even as far as really revealing to me how I view myself both externally and as a person.
Day #66 – A Photo A Day 2013
On my walk on Mount Sutro two days ago there may not have been a view of the ocean, but there were quite a few eucalyptus trees and many wild flowers. The smell in the forest was so invigorating and it was so quiet and peaceful – it didn’t even feel like I was in the middle of San Francisco.
Along the trail in many places there were Forget-me-nots, which are one of my favorite old-fashioned flowers. I tried out the macro lens that I won from Photojojo and was very pleased to find that I could get less than an inch from the flower for a nice bokeh effect.
Again, I’ve run it through Tangled FX using two effects and blending the two pictures. I was lucky to have the sunlight actually show up for the few seconds that I was on my knees taking this photo.
I was disappointed that I didn’t have an ocean view for the sunset, but what a beautiful oasis this hill provides in the middle of the city! I think this may end up being a new favorite place to ofrequent.
Day #65 – A Photo A Day 2013
Learning to be a little less obvious when I am snapping a photo is proving to be a more difficult thing than I originally thought that it would be and is definitely a big challenge.
I am always trying to get a photo of Chris when he’s not really paying attention – he will be looking at me with the sweetest smile but the moment I bring my camera or iPhone up to capture that sweetness, the genuine smile is replaced with the “camera smile”.
“Camera Smile” more often than not looks forced rather than natural and is definitely not what I’m wanting to capture in a photo.
Lately I have been practicing stealth photography with my iPhone as I’ve been walking out in public. Sometimes I am literally shooting from the hip and trying my best to not look as if that’s what I’m doing. It’s hard to focus on walking, looking casual and cleverly tilting my phone lens toward my subject without actually looking at the screen to see what it is that’s being captured by the camera.
I think that I managed pretty well to capture this adorable dog in motion while Chris and I were out walking this past weekend:
He was SO FLUFFY and he looked like a tiny Husky (is there such a thing as a miniature Husky?) so the moment he and his person were in the right light, I started snapping away. This was the second picture of 5 that I snapped in a row, and the only one that I thought was fit for editing.
Day #64 – A Photo A Day 2013
More fun with Tangled FX!
This is the “mountains” of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland as seen from the queue during the nightly fireworks show.
This pic obviously doesn’t have any fireworks, but the sky was filled with all sorts of smoke from them and it made for a strange hue when I took the picture.
I ran it through three different effects in Tangled FX and also let it color boost and WOW the effect was crazy! It almost looks like lava or something! I’m so in love with Tangled FX!
Day #63 – A Photo A Day 2013
At the risk of redundancy I am posting yet another pic edited in Tangled FX because I simply cannot get enough of that app!
I layered two different Tangled FX effects for this picture of one of the Chinese Dancing Lions at the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade.
I really wish that I knew exactly how this app works – it’s so fascinating! This picture was already a little blurry because of the motion of the lion so I felt that it would be perfect to use the “blurred” effect to make it a little less noticeable. That didn’t quite give me the results that I wanted so I layered the “smooth fibers” effect over it as well to sharpen it up a little and to give the picture a bit more depth and detail.
Day #62 – A Photo A Day 2013
Tangled FX is fast becoming my new favorite photo editing app – it’s so versatile and I love how other-worldly it makes my outdoor pics look!
Here is a photo that I shot in Muir Woods on Friday before any editing of any kind:
Same photo – after editing in Tangled FX:
Watching the photo transform in that app is like magic – it just morphs in front of your eyes! I didn’t layer two effects in this pic like I did in the last one since I felt that altering in any further would have not been as effective. Sometimes less is more.
Day #60 – A Photo A Day 2013
Surprises are one of the most enjoyable things in life to me, and they don’t have to be a major surprise to be spectacular.
To clarify, I do not mean a bad surprise… like falling and twisting your ankle or waking up with a cold. What I am referring to are those un-expected moments where something good happens that you are totally not expecting and it totally makes your day.
My husband knows that I love surprises – he also knows that I am notoriously difficult to surprise, not because I get suspicious and nosy, but I’m generally a very observant person and I can tell when behavior is just a little bit off and then it isn’t long before my brain does the arithmetic and I figure out what has been planned behind my back.
I don’t know if I have been off my game lately or if I’m just not paying attention because he really surprised me today.
Two weeks ago Chris told me that his team at work was going to have an afternoon get together for lunch and that spouses were invited. The lunch was to be at one of his co-worker’s house, which is near the Muir Woods preserve. My eyes lit up at this, despite the fact that we would be going to the house and not to the woods – maybe I could get a glimpse! It’s been a desire of mine to visit Muir Woods for several years and I just KNEW that being so close and not being able to actually go on a hike was going to drive me nuts.
Today was the day – I laced up my boots and walked to Chris’ office where I met him and two of his co-workers and we started the drive, others on his team following. Our drive was taking us over the Golden Gate Bridge, which I had not done before and once we started across I realized just how awesome those beautiful red towers are! It’s such a different experience being on the bridge itself rather than under one end of it… impressive for different reasons, but what a magnificent sight it was to have the golden sun illuminating that fire-y red against a deep blue sky!
Across the bridge and into the hills we went… there was the entrance to Muir Woods! WAIT! We’re turning INTO THE PARKING LOT! SURPRIIIIISE! The team was gathering here to go on a short hike!!! Elation! Chris did a great job keeping this a secret, no small feat let me assure you! The rest of the team arrived and away we went!
We took the Ocean View Trail which was a challenging one – lots of un-even ground with roots and rocks and many many hills. We were completely surrounded by towering Redwood trees and the fresh smell of the woods was so incredible! I only had my iPhone with me, and I had to catch up to the group many times because I kept pausing to snap pictures. 🙂
At the top of this trail was a hill covered in grasses, and you indeed could see the ocean. I was surprised that we were not closer to the ocean itself as I was under the impression that we would be on an ocean side cliff view, but it was still spectacular nonetheless. At this point, we hiked back the way we came, hopped into our cars and went to Chris’ co-worker Jason’s house, where we had a barbecue and we all talked and played with Jason’s lovely two girls. 🙂
The team ended up talking about ideas for a project they were working on so while they were talking shop I played a bit with a photo that I took while we were on the hike:
It’s an iris that I found growing along the trail in the woods. I shot the picture with my fisheye lens from Photojojo – I haven’t been very impressed with this lens but I’ve been trying it out in a variety of lighting situations to give it a fair shake. It just seems like the pictures are not turning out as sharp as they should be, like the lens glass just isn’t very nice, and after looking at the original of this flower I think that’s what the problem is.
I took a picture with just the native lens (un-fortunately I ended up deleting it from my phone to make more room for other photos before I backed up my photos, so I can’t put the comparison of the originals here) and it looked much more clear than the original of this photo.
I was determined to make this photo look a bit more interesting with a bit of app layering – I do love a challenge! All in all, I think this edit looks better than the original but I am a little disappointed still with my edit. I think what is bothering me the most is that one petal that is much longer than the rest of the petals – normally I like asymmetry but this just seems out of place to me. I’m posting it here anyway as it was a part of the memories that I will take with me from this awesome day!
Day #59 – A Photo A Day 2013
App Layering. It’s addictive. It’s highly rewarding and creatively stimulating, not expensive and most apps are really easy to understand and apply practically.
I’m doing another Before and After post today because the edit I did this morning is so drastically different from the original photo that I wanted to show the difference.
The Hawaiian Chieftain is again the subject photo of the day. This photo here was taken on my iPhone 4s, native camera app at approx. 4:45 in the afternoon.
Here you see it un-touched – no edits nor touchups of any sort, just the raw photo:
I went to bed last night thinking of this pic and how I’d like to edit it. As I found myself immersed in the process, the picture ended up becoming something much more different than I envisioned it to be in the first place and I built layer upon layer of editing and overall I am much more pleased with the finished result than what I had originally planned to do.
I started out in Photo FX where I added a bit of haze to darken things up a little. I then moved on to Iris where I added a bit of dirt, back to Photo FX to darken it a bit more. On to Filtermania 2, then Wow FX, back to Filtermania 2, again to Wow FX again, on to
I really don’t know what I would do without Photo FX and ScratchCam – they are my staples, and the Dropico apps are quickly becoming favorites as well!
Day #58 – A Photo A Day 2013
Back to the tall ships I went today, cameras and iPhone in hand!
There were considerably more people there than there had been yesterday. At first I figured that yesterday wasn’t busy since I was there so late, but one of the crew told me that there were much fewer yesterday. I guess word got out that they were here!
They’ll be in Oakland for the next two weeks after that, so just across the bay. It’s cheaper to moor over there, plus they can have mock battles with each other on that side of the bay without paying for a sound permit like San Francisco charges.
Today’s pic is the main mast of the Hawaiian Chieftain. It was very sunny today, but I decided that it needed a little moonlight:
Layering iPhone apps is SO fun and I got so deep in this one that I don’t even remember all of the apps that I used – I was sort of doing it as I was working on other things and not making mental notes of what apps I used and in what order. (I really should note these things!)
I have many more photos to sort through from today’s session so expect more tall ship photos!
Day #57 – A Photo A Day 2013
Yesterday I learned that two tall ships were in town so OF COURSE today I had to go see them, since I have had a life long fascination with tall ships, pirates and the sea.
This afternoon I started the long walk to Pier 40. It was warm today and very sunny so I was particularly looking forward to a long walk that I routinely enjoy. Also, I hadn’t walked toward the tourist-y part of San Francisco in quite a while so I was ready to go.
It wasn’t as crowded as it would be on the weekends, and people were smiley and friendly. Lots of runners and bicyclists and people walking their dogs, apparently oblivious to the fact that THERE ARE TALL SHIPS IN TOWN! How could they not be heading straight there that very moment?! It boggles my mind.
The bay looked like a blue jewel glinting in the afternoon sun and it made me want to take a dip, despite what I knew the temperature of the water to be. I resisted the urge, partially because I wanted to reach my destination and partially because… well, I had no swimsuit! Onward I marched…
Past the Ferry Building, past Boudin Bakery, past In-n-Out – I almost stopped there but NO! I must resist! The ships await! (and because I like this pic, here is a shot of the Ferry Building! It’s an accidental shot, and I haven’t edited it)
I avoided pier 39 completely and went onto…. wait, where is Pier 40? This is 41, where The Balclutha, and amazing ship in her own right (and an original!) makes her permanent home.
The Balclutha is a National Historic Landmark and Pier 41 is in the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park so I asked the park rangers if perhaps I had the wrong pier? No, Pier 40 was correct, and this is Pier 41… It turned out that Pier 40 IS JUST A FEW BLOCKS FROM MY APARTMENT!!! Arg! So I walked miles out of my way when I would have been at the ships in mere minutes.
The park rangers and I had a good laugh at the irony, and they explained the odd-even placement of pier numbers – basically the Ferry Building is the center and everything to the south of the Ferry Building is the even numbered piers and everything to the north of the Ferry Building is the odd numbered piers.
Disappointed, I started the walk home. Tours were due to end at 5 and I knew there was no way that I could walk there in time. (there was only a window of 1 hour for dockside tours) My feet were killing me – I already had some major blisters from a very long walk I had taken earlier in the week and I feared that I was forming blisters under my blisters… so I hopped on the F-Line and started home.
I hopped off at my stop and walked toward my apartment. I realized that I would have JUST enough time to get to the dock to spend a few minutes there so I decided to walk through the pain and make my way there. Fast walking and blisters do NOT mix but I cared not.
Finally I was there! 10 minutes on board the Hawaiian Chieftanso I didn’t have time to shoot many pictures but I took a few and talked with one of the ship hands. Everyone in the crew was dressed in appropriate attire for the late 1700’s early 1800’s as is evident to the photo I shot and edited below:
Shot with my iPhone 4s, edited in Photo FX, Iris, and ScratchCam.
10 minutes on board was not enough and I didn’t have time to go on board the Lady Washington… I’m going back tomorrow!
Day #56 – A Photo A Day 2013
We have arrived at post #2 for today, which is actually today’s post! Hopefully the website and internet access woes are behind me for a great deal of time.
I met @tatum22 and @diegoscott83 of Instagram fame on the instawalk_sf and they are a continual source of inspiration to me. They have this Monday tradition where they post “Meditation Monday” pictures where one of them (usually @diegoscott83) jumps in the air in a pose of levitated mediation and they have really perfected this!
Below is one of the shots that I took of @diegoscott83 doing just that at Fort Point right under the Golden Gate Bridge here in San Francisco.
There was a great deal of lens flare that I wanted to keep in the picture, but it was hard to tone down the outer edges of the picture and still keep the basic integrity of that awesome flare. I’m basically happy with how this turned out but I may re-visit the pic for a re-edit later.
Day #54 – A Photo A Day 2013
This whole week I have been bummed out that I was going to miss my good friends’ concert up in Seattle today. Sure, the plane ride is short, but other forces prevented me from going.
Actually “bummed out” would be understating it a bit, but I am trying to not sound melodramatic so the phrase stays. Oscillaror X not only makes awesome music that I LOOOOVE, but they are also dear friends of mine, so to not be there to support them was driving me nuts. (side note – you will see a couple of shots that I took of them in their Photos section! /shamelessselfpromotion)
Somewhere around Wednesday this week I was perusing the San Francisco Fun Cheap websites for distractions this weekend when I saw events listed for the wrap-up of all of the Chinese New Year celebrations happening this weekend – how could I have forgotten?!?!?! I’ve only wanted to go to the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade since forever!
While I wasn’t able to be magically transported to Seattle for the concert, I did have the parade to look forward to and it would be so sweet to finally see it in person! I immediately studied the parade route, diligently scouting out the perfect position for me and my camera – oh and Chris too. I really wanted to share the parade with him – to have that memory to share together.
This morning I awoke, sleepy and cuddly when suddenly my mind remembered what day it was… PARADE DAY! I jumped out of bed with anticipation of the evenings festivities to come – why was the morning crawling by?
Afternoon came and my excitement grew. Chris just looked at me with a half smile and a shake of his head.
Oh! It’s time to go! We put on our coats and half walked and half jogged the 3 blocks to Market St. – despite wanting to be in Chinatown, I felt that we would have the best experience with fewer crowds (for Chris’ sake) and I could still get a good angle.
We weren’t far from the beginning of the parade, so that meant less time standing around too. We stood just north-ish of Market on the corner of 3rd and Geary, right underneath the Geary sign. (Some of the intersections downtown are soooo odd) We had a front-row seat! er, stand!
A few parent-less kids (where were their parents, anyway?!?!) attempted to make the crowding more miserable by yelling at each other and shoving both themselves and people around and didn’t stop until the guy to my left said “Look, you should stop shoving and shouting because if you don’t I’m going to shove back, and I’m definitely going to win”. That made them leave – hooray!
The parade was a cacophony of colors and sounds that constantly bombarded your eyes and ears and it was hard to focus on any one thing for too long due to the whirlwind of activity before you. One of my favorite parts of the parade were the Chinese Lions dancing all around the street and coming up to greet and dance right in front of us! I was determined to use my iPhone as much as possible as an experiment – sometimes the images are just a blur of color (once it got dark) and sometimes the motion really added to the sense of movement in the picture, in my opinion.
This picture is actually pretty clear:
Here I am now at home, re-living the parade tonight with relish – I’ve wanted to see this for such a long time, and finally I was able to attend! I’ll never forget when my former boss Stan told me, in great detail, what this parade is like. He definitely described it well enough for me to yearn to go and being there to experience it myself was really a treat – I felt like a kid again.