CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

The approach to the temple at Todai-ji is through the Nara Park, which is home to around 1200 deer, which are free to roam as they please.  These deer are regarded as messengers of the gods and are sacred because the God “Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto” rode a deer.  The deer are considered as residents and it is a crime to harm one. The deer are fed offerings of shika senbei, special crackers that are sold by vendors for 150 yen.  The deer associate people with food and are not backwards in demanding some shika senbei.  Some have learnt to bow before receiving a cracker and there were plenty of bowing going on when we were walking up to the temple gate. The deer are not dangerous but will bite unintentionally so be warned. These shots were taken on the Fujifilm X-Pro2 fitted with the 16-55mm f2.8 or 10-24mm f4 lenses and also the X-T1 with the 50-140mm f2.8 For more information on Nara Park and the temple at Todai-ji CLICK HERE ...

Kinkaku-ji is a Buddist temple in Kyoto, the old capital city of Japan.  The Golden Pavilion is a three storey building in the grounds of the Rokuon-ji temple complex.  The top two stories of the pavilion are covered in gold leaf. The history of the Kinkaku-ji dates back to the late 14th century when the villa was purchased by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.  When The Shogun (warlord) died the building was converted into a Zen temple by his son. In 1950 the pavilion was burned down by a young novice monk, which also destroyed the statue Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.  The pavilion was rebuilt in 1955 and is said to a close copy of the original. The day we visited Kinkaku-ji was slightly overcast but when we saw the temple the light started to lift and the winter sunlight was reflected off of the gold covered walls. Using the X-Pro2 and the XF10-24mm or XF16-55mm or XF50-140mm I took images from each side of the Pavilion. CLICK HERE for more information on Kinkak...

While visiting the Town God Temple in Zhujiajiao I spotted this wooden rack in one of the corners of the temple with lots of red ribbon prayers or wishes tied to it.  The sunlight was filtering between the building and catching the red ribbons highlighting one prayer. I have no idea what the prayer says but perhaps the fact it was hit by the sunlight means that it will be granted by the Chinese gods.  A nice thought! The image was taken on a Fujifilm X-T1 and a XF16-55mm f2.8 lens ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on the adverts you are helping support this blog - thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PR...

Another stop on our tour of Zhujiajiao was the Town God Temple, which is a Daoist temple on Caohe Street opposite the Qijin Bridge, dedicated to Guanjin, the goddess of mercy.  This was immediately in front of the quay where our boat ride finished. The temple isn't large but tries to explain the Daoist gods, including the eight year cycle that dictate which sign you were born under.  I was was born in 1964 and is the year of the snake and my daughter Kate was born in 1998, so is the year of the tiger.  The others are the rat, ox, dragon, rabbit, horse and goat, which is 2015. We spent 45 minutes looking at the various parts of the temple, which I photographed on the X-T1 and the XF16-55mm f2.8 and 50-140mm f2.8 lenses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BLOG BY VISITING THE ADVERTISERS ON THIS PAGE By clicking on th...

After a couple of hours in the studio filming an interview with Fujifilm, and then lunch, we took a 2-hour walk around Ginza Street in downtown Tokyo, one of the longest shopping areas in the Japanese capital.  The street is very narrow and is only for pedestrians and cyclists, perfect for street photography on the X-T1 and the XF16-55mm f2.8. The flexibility offered by the XF16-55mm f2.8 quickly became apparent when I was walking around.  The 24mm to 85mm equivalent focal range meant I only needed one lens to capture a variety of subjects on the streets of Tokyo. We headed off the beaten track a bit, exploring some of the side streets and it was sometimes hard to believe that we were in one of the most densely populated cities in the world, it was so quiet. The sense of peace continued when we came across a temple, tucked away in amongst the houses.  I have visited many temples on my visits to Tokyo and they are usually an ar...