Kanazawa, Japan

Kanazawa is known for it’s Geisha teahouses so we thought we’d wander over to 1 Chome Higashiyama for a look. It was a 20 minute walk from the Kenroku-en garden, well actually, about 30 minutes. We got distracted at the Asanogawa Bridge when we saw a small alley with wooden houses. We ducked into it to satisfy our curiousity and found ourselves back along the Asano River. We continued walking upriver till we reached a little bridge and crossed over. Kazuemachi was the tiny suburb we had just walked through. Beautiful area along the river with wooden restaurants and houses looking alike. Apart from a couple of locals there was no-one around. It felt like a small village. We didn’t end up visiting the teahouses, deciding to head back to the hotel for a rest and shower before heading back out for dinner.

My edit for this image is slightly different to what I usually do when I use split-tones. I edited the photo in colour first and once finished, I dropped the vibrance to -100. The pale colours that are left are the most saturated colours of the images. This is when I added and tweaked my split-tone preset. Then I increased the general saturation slider to my liking. Just enough to add a bit of those over-saturated colours to the image. An interesting edit but I’m not sure if I like it or not. Not a process I’d use on a lot of images… Still not sure about the edit.

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75 mm, 1/160th second @ ƒ/11, ISO 1600

Miyajima / Itsukushima Island, Japan

The staff at Hotel Kikunoya, where we stayed, were very friendly and helpful. Really can’t say enough great things about this place. They have their own onsen and restaurant. We had dinner in this street though, in Itsukushima Town. The town pretty much shuts down after sunset and only a small handful of restaurants stay open for tourists. It looks very empty here but I promise you it’s packed with tourists and locals during the day. We wandered down this little street and ultimately back up to a restaurant called Mametanuki. The owner speaks English and is, maybe, British but the restaurant is very much Japanese.

Though this is a long exposure photo, I had a couple walk in the frame and stopped just long enough to appear as ghost figures. So I used the first shot I took of the street to mask them out of the frame. Otherwise, it’s a single exposure.

It’s these types of streets and alleyways that really make me feel like I’m in a different country, a different world. We both wished we’d organised, at least, two nights here. So much to see and visit.

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41 mm, 25 seconds @ ƒ/11, ISO 50

THE CLOUD & THE TOWER, THE STORE & THE FALLS

I thought I’d share the photos that were in the video of my last post. I’ve wanted to share them for a while but wanted to get the video out first.

You might have noticed that the first two photos are not from Kerikeri but Auckland (New Zealand). This was on our first full day in New Zealand, I got up early, before my friends, to check out the Piers at the end of Queen Street, where we’d eaten at the night before.

Later that morning we were picking up our camper-van and heading up to Kerikeri. We lost three hours at the camper-van company because of a problem with their system, which made us arrived in Kerikeri mid afternoon instead midday.

We headed straight for The Stone Store and Kiroripo Pa. A beautiful area along the Kerikeri River. We spent a couple hours there then visited the Rainbow Falls (Waianiwaniwa) a little farther upstream.

Unfortunately that’s all we had the time to visit. The next day we were off to Paihia. Kerikeri is a large town with plenty to visit and do, and absolutely beautiful. Well worth a visit.

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While exploring Melbourne’s little alleyways, I stumbled upon this guy in the middle of creation. Another one of my favourite photos from Melbourne. There’s a lot I like about this scene. The crushed cardboard boxes, the pavement, the kegs, the rubbish bins and of course the guy just about to paint. But what really intrigues me is the upper door of the building behind the bins. Very interesting. 

The photo was taken hand-held with the aperture open as wide as possible and the ISO bumped up bit. This camera doesn’t do well in low ambient light.

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1/125 sec @ ƒ/5.6, 55 mm, ISO 800

I had almost walked by this alley when I turned my head and I have no idea what made me stop but I’m glad I did. There’s so much to look at, so many interesting things that I had to take a photo. My favourite thing is the beautiful wooden sculpture. I’ll let you find it yourself. What about the guy jumping? I was lucky to shoot at that precise moment. I find everything interesting about this photo. The bar in a small alley. The group of men (and a woman) standing outside the bar. The couple on the right. She’s kneeling, he’s jumping. The different lanterns on both sides of the alley. The signs. The paved strip in the middle of the alley. There are even surveillance cameras. And not to forget that gorgeous sculpture that blends itself with the tree in front of it. Just amazing.

Love the scene but unfortunately I missed my focus. I was pretty sure I had nailed it on the group of men but it looks more like it focused on the 10 km/h street sign. I have no idea how that happened. Not happy though. Black and white was the obvious choice to go with here for me as there’s a lot of contrast in the scene.

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1/80 sec @ ƒ/5.6, 55 mm, ISO 800

These are the little alleyways full of cafes and restaurants that I just love. One of many of course. This is The Causeway (Melbourne, Australia) at 5 o’clock in the afternoon. Quite a busy alley and a lot of people already seated for dinner. My mum and I had lunch here that afternoon, in a little Italian restaurant, delicious! Just after I took this photo, we had coffee at the french patisserie the other end of the alley. I had been at this french place before and, oh boy, you’re so tempted to try everything you see. Anyway, one of my favourite little places to visit when in Melbourne.

For the shot, I had to bump up the ISO quite high for the lack of light in the alley but even that wasn’t enough so I stopped down as wide open as possible to let more light. It was enough for me to get the shot I wanted.

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1/50 sec @ ƒ/5.6, 55 mm, ISO 1600

I just love these kinds of little alley ways with restaurants, cafes, bars and outside seatings. I’m the kind of person who like to sip an espresso, watching people walk by. And on rare occasions, I like to write. Bank Place, Melbourne, Australia. There are many of these alleys in the city. At lunch time and after work they come to life with hundreds of people. They get so busy, it’s hard to get from one end to the other. Great places.

I went with my own version of sepia on this photo, only because of the old buildings and the stone pavement. Most of my street photos contain only one, maximum two, colours. There are always exceptions. It’s just my way of appreciate the scene more.

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