Maple Close-ups

Taken in Shinjuku Gyoen now that the leaves have finally started to change colour.
There were some low-hanging branches, so I just set up my tripod and stuck on my 50mm.
Aperture varied from 1.4 - 4
Quite a lot of photographers were gathered and some of the best spots were taken up with tripods.
Lots of shuffling around looking for another viewpoint.
Settled in under the trees as the sun shone down.
More shuffling around as the sun changed through the course of the afternoon.
I spent about an hour, perhaps more, at this spot alone.
Not many trees, only about a dozen or so at this spot, but it seemed as good as any in the park and was a sun trap.
Still, the maples are not at their peak yet...

It hasn't been a cold November in Tokyo. The coldest it went down to was about 8 degrees.
Now, by my standards, that's not cold, especially when it only lasted a day or two.
The rest of November has hovered around the 16 degrees mark.
Reason why the leaves are late changing colour.
The wind hasnt been strong.
Maples have quite delicate leaves, and the wind hasn't scorched them too much, if at all on some parts of the trees.


Need a bit more tidying up and some cropping on one or two, but these are a few pics of what was on offer in the park.
I took about 250 pics in total all over the park.
About 50 or more in the spot I described above.

Pollution on a Quiet Street

Tokyo Tower seems to be a popular spot for people to go to.
Must admit, that all my years in Tokyo, I've never seen the fascination with such an eyesore as that.
Until today.
Well, tell a lie, I wasn't there to see that. I actually popped down to see Shiba Koen (park).
Now, I've been patiently waiting for the maples of Tokyo to turn their familiar red, but they're intent to keep me waiting.
I read on the internet that the maples in Shiba Koen were changing colour, so off I went.
A long train/subway ride.
Leaves are still green.
Park was tiny and, to be honest, unimpressive.
Still, it was a nice day.
There was a chance to shoot Tokyo Tower...I pondered it for about 5 seconds, and no.

I did, however, see some mighty fine air pollution as the sun beamed from in-between some trees and on to the road. You could literally cut the haze with a katana.
It was either that street shot or Tokyo Tower...
I stand by my decision.

The year-long wait

Changing colour and floating to the ground.
Awaiting their turn.
The maples are still changing colour in Tokyo, some are still green, whilst others just turning a browny-orange colour.
So, while I wait for the maples, I took time to shoot this tree, whose leaves have already began the ol' Autumn process.
It was a warm, sunny day with a cloudless blue sky.
A nice contrast with the browns and yellows.

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009

Shinjuku Gyoen was the first park that I went to in Shinjuku way back in 2002.
Along with Koishikawa Korakeun, it's my favourite park in Tokyo.
I visit both of these parks several times a year, especially during the spring and autumn seasons.

Shinjuku Gyoen has some estimated 20,000 trees.
The main attractions for me being the cherry trees in the Spring and the red maples in the Autumn.

The 8 photos on here labelled "Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009" are from about 250 that I took this year.
I was planning to post a lot more to try and give some kind of photo walk, but seeing that the park itself sits in 144 acres, it was no easy task.
Instead, I just uploaded some of my favourites.
In the spring, there are lots of cherry trees blooming.
Tokyo usually has a very warm spring, so the park is busy from late March-early/mid April.
The fallen blossoms form a pink carpet on the ground.

In these 144 acres, there is a Fench garden, English ladscape, traditional Japanese garden, Taiwanese pavillion, several large ponds, and lots in between.

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009 (8)

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009 (7)

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009 (6)

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009 (5)

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009 (4)

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009 (3)

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009 (2)

Shinjuku Gyoen Spring 2009 (1)

Concentration

This chap was at Zempukuji koen (park) in Tokyo.
Watched him for over 30 minutes. His eyes wide, focused on any movement around him.
Slow mover, turning severals times on the same pedestal before flying off.
The pic has been cropped and resized.
Taken at 300mm, I really could have used the extra length...
Handheld.
ISO 400 f5.6

Red Carpet

Early December, 2008.
This was one of the scenes at Koishikawa Korakuen in Tokyo.
The maple leaves were bidding farewell for another year.
Oranges and deep reds forming a carpet on the small stone path.
Tokyo usually sees the leaves turn red from around mid-November onwards.

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

Camera perched on the top of a bridge.
I caught the train from Nakano station to Koenji station.
10 second exposure at f9.5 ISO100.
Edited it in-camera. Gave it a bit of an HDR look, without being HDR.

Pods

Early Autumn.
Shot in Koishikawa Korakuen in Tokyo..
Not sure what these flowers might have been, but the pods are about 3 inches in length.
Manually focused, wide open at f1.4.
Seems like I didn't get the focusing spot on, but this was the best of the handful of shot I took.

Spectator Sport

Another one from Meiji Jingu.
This was the same day as the previous one.
This girl in the kimono wasn't a guest of the wedding, but she was hanging around the temple.
Caught her watching a wedding procession.
Shot in the shadows on a bright, sunny afternoon.
Her outfit reflects the Autumn.

First Stage of Autumn

End of October 2009.
Autumn takes its time in Tokyo.
Possibly another 2-weeks to wait, taking us into mid-Novemeber, til the maples start to change colour.
This was on a very warm day, around 23 degrees.
The sun was shining, and some leaves had fallen from some other types of trees, of which I don't know the names...
The sun makes it quite a warm photo, rather than a cool Autumn feeling.
The few red, yellow and orange leaves let you know that winter isn't too far away, despite the sun.

Set up the tripod and got the ol' manual lens out.
Added some very slight saturation.

First, Second, Third

Meiji Jingu, Harajuku.
Sunday afternoon in late Autumn, 2008.

Traditional wedding taking place.
These three wedding guests were scurrying to line up for the post-wedding photo.
I was tracking the woman as they walked by.
She noticed me pointing my camera at her and turned her head just as I pulled the trigger.
A split second too late, but I still like the feel of movement, and it looks like she may be talking to the man in the background.

Voting Shack

This is between the areas of Nakano and Koenji in Tokyo.
The train runs above the road all the way there.
It's about 10 minutes on foot, or about 2 minutes on train when I make the trip to Nakano from Koenji.
There's an old shack, rusted up, that is used for posters of voting campaigns.
The odd bit of tagging and graffiti brightens it up from time to time.
Resized from jpeg straight out of the camera.
I liked the colours in this one.

Pond Life

Taken in Shinjuku Park, Tokyo in November 2008.
It was late afternoon as the sun was setting and casting a glow on the pond towards the top left, which darkened to the bottom of the picture.

This was the first photo that I had accepted into the Pentax Photo Gallery.

The Odd One Out

Some things are synonomous with Japan, such as fans, sushi, cherry blossom, samurai, kimono, animation, and so on.
I'd like to add the cheap, transparent umbrella to that list.
These are cheap throw-aways.
As soon as it gets a bit cloudy, shops will put their umbrellas outside tempting consumers who get frightened by a spot of rain.
At a mere 100Yen a pop, there's no damage done to the wallet should you need one on the walk home from the station.
After the shower, occasionally people will dump them, not wanting the extra baggage to carry around.
You often find them scattered around hanging from branches and railings or propping up a building.

I spotted this umbrella keeping three canisters company in an industrial site.

Grey Mansion

This is an area of Tokyo called Ogikubo.
I lived there for about 2 years.
Quite a residential part of Tokyo, with a reputation of having a large number of ramen(noodle) restaurants.
Late at night, the place is quiet, and it's also quite expensive to live...two reasons why I moved.

I like this photo because of the dull grey building in the background contrasting with the brightness of the Tokyo taxis and a few neon signs.
This part of the town is near the train station, North side.
The train tracks are to the left, out of shot.

Kabuki Magician

This was one of many shots that I took during May 2009 in Koenji, Tokyo.
There was a large street performance festival that lasted a whole weekend.
This is one of the peformers.
His style is that of a Kabuki(you'll have to google that for a better explanation) magician.

This is my second inclusion into the Pentax Photo Gallery.