When and where: November 6-19, 2024; the adventure begins in Osaka and ends in Kyoto, Japan. Group Size: This is an exclusive, small photo workshop (non-photographer significant others are also…
I think that "subversive metaphoto" is a mouthful, but I kind of like the phrase. Ponderous? Sure. Pretentious? Double sure. But here's the thing. I spend much time thinking on…
The Grand Shrine of Ise is dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. One of Shinto's most sacred shrines, this complex of shrines, inner shrines, and sub-shrines covers a larger land…
For the image of Bamboo Woods near Kyoto, I made seven exposures on my tripod at shutter speeds ranging from 1/2 a second to 20 seconds, varying each exposure by about…
When I first heard about the museum in Yokohama honoring Cup of Noodles instant soup, Nissin Food Products, and Momofuku Ando, the company's founder and the inventor of instant ramen…
I spent the day on Miyajima Island, which is a pretty wonderful place. I told Phyllis it was like Sausalito with a bit of religion, tame deer, and 300,000 oysters…
At Kanazawa Station, on my way to Hiroshima, I saw this pretty train on a local track. I don't really know what it was about, but it seemed to be…
I had a lesson in making Temari sushi at In Kenazawa House. This kind of sushi is a specialty of the Kenazawa region, and based on small, round balls that…
Following a long "day" of travel I am now in Kanazawa, Japan. I use the term "day" somewhat notionally: I started early Wednesday morning California time and arrived at my…
Where will this path lead us? The town of Magome hugs the side of the mountain, and the Nakasendo Trail here is lined by inns, wood crafters, and small eating…
This is a photograph of the garden courtyard of a Shikubu (guesthouse) in a monastery in Mt Koya Japan in autumn. There's no place like Japan, and when I am…
I'm organizing a photography week in Tokyo for next year. As part of my research and planning for this destination photo workshop I pulled some photos from my files that…
I've been writing this blog since 2005, which is to say over twelve years. Sometimes there's more, and sometimes I have less to say, but the average is about ten…
Nanzenji is one of the Five Great Zen Temples of Kyoto, Japan. Wandering through the grounds at Nanzenji, I came across a huge red brick aqueduct, built in the 19th…
Poet William Blake wrote about building a Hell in Heaven's despite, and the cognitive dissonance of traveling in Japan often put me in mind of this poem of Blake's (which also…
The Yoshino River is one of the three great rivers of Japan. Located on Shikoku Island, it is nicknamed "Shikoku Saburo," Sabaro being a popular first name for a third…
Hokusai, the famous Japanese woodblock print artist of the Edo period, created many views of Japan that included Mt Fuji, but the one shown here was probably not in his…
In the eighteenth century, Tokyo---then known as Edo---was the world’s largest city, with a population of over one million. Today, Tokyo is still one of the world’s great metropoli, sprawling…