Really cool post

So here is a close-up shot of a cool post I found at a garden in Kyoto. Once again I spent my "sketching time" taking pictures and from that batch I got this one. Now obviously the focus is the post in the middle, which normally is a no-no for composition. However, I also think that the rope trailing off the bottom right adds a pulling sensation to the post which helps. I also really like the gravel and moss around the post and how their color really pops. I spent a lot of time taking macro shots of the gravel and moss since it fascinated me so much.
I could talk a lot more about all the little things in this picture I like but I'll just let you figure them out for yourself.

Painting Elephant

Not this picture is not ment to be supper great on composition or color or anything. The reason I am putting it up is that the concept is really cool and honestly, how much better can you get than an elephant that can paint? And on top of that, the paintings are really good also. So there you have it, when in Thailand, try to make a special trip up to Chaing-Mai and visit the Mesa Elephant camp to see the elephants that paint. Also, after the show we got to ride the elephants on a trail around the mountain camp.

Water Plaza

Now this place is cool if you ask me. Located next to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, this plaza is covered with crazy water features. I believe the plaza was built as a wedding gift from the emperor to his daughter. Now who receives a plaza for a wedding gift? Honestly. What happened to the good ol' microwave or cutlery set? Forget those things, when your Emperor, you give out plazas! Anyways, enough of that, we visited this plaza while it was drizzling rain which made it a very wet place if you ask me. Not only is their water already all over the place from all the random fountains, but it was raining at the same time which made everything else wet also. However, the rain did help out the picture since it makes the nice granite paveres very reflective and adds to the look of everything. As for the shell fountain in the picture, that's just strange if you ask me...but at the same time kinda cool. All the fountains in the plaza were also on a rotating timer so they were never all on at the same time. Well that's all for now so enjoy looking at the crazy fountains!

Ladybug

This was a fun little picture I took while we were riding the ferry boat in Tokyo. The little ladybug was flying around a lot probably trying to find a way off the boat. Of course I wasn't much better myself getting around the boat since the roof is about even with my shoulders which made walking quite awkward if you ask me. In this picture I like how you get a faint understanding on what is in the background but it is not if focus. I also like the reflection of the light off the ladybug's back.
Well that's all and it will probably be a few days until my next post since school is starting and computers are moving around.

Benchmark

This is a Japanese Benchmark. Now if you don't know what that is, it's a permanent point that surveyors and construction people use to figure out where everything should go when they build. When you construct something like a building or a road you have to start somewhere and these benchmarks are that place. What fascinated me so much about these marks is that in Japan there are just so many of them. Though I know we use a lot of them here in America, I just have never seen so many visible benchmarks all over the place until I walked around the streets of Japan. I believe that in America most benchmarks are located as to not be visible and out of the way. However in Japan these little markers were on every street corner. So as I walked I started to take pictures of some of them since I liked getting pictures of utility related things like manhole covers and other stuff since they all looked so cool and decorated in Japan. What I like about this pictures is how the paving corners cut in and out of the picture frame. So I will leave you at that as you stare endlessly into the benchmark and notice something that you normally just pass on by.

Beauty from Decay

This was taken in some famous garden in Kyoto. I don't remember what the name is now unfortunately for your sake. I titled this Beauty from Decay from the beautiful look of the natural stream that happens to have dead leaves decaying on the bottom. However, the Rock is the main focus of the picture with its strong sense of direction from the lines in it. The moss growing on it adds the perfect soft touch to such a rigid object and helps tie it to the natural stream. Well that's all the talk I have on that stuff, just sit back and enjoy the picture!

The other side of Ryoan-ji

From the amount of attention the small zen garden at Ryoan-ji in Kyoto gets, you would probably never guess that there was anything else there. In fact, the zen garden is just a tiny part of a much larger and very grand garden that I believe is more beautiful than the garden at Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion). To the right is just one of the many pictures I took of this garden and I feel that this one best shows the sheer beauty of the place. Also, the best time to visit Japan is late May since the azaleas are all blooming and they look amazing...as can bee seen in the picture.
-Enjoy

Welcome to Japan

Nothing beats cute pictures of little Japanese kids. This was taken in Tokyo at Yoyogi park I believe on the way to the large shrine in the center of it. From a picture stand point I see this as one of my best "people" pictures that I ever remember taking. I really like the composition of the whole thing and how nothing distracts from the little kid and what he is doing. Now I would like you to enjoy this as it is the beginning of a long line of pictures taken during my trip to Japan. The count for the 3 week Japan/Thailand trip comes to just around 11,600 pictures so there should be a few good ones in that whole lot to make it on this site. Also as a side note, I slightly edited this image to remove some guy's leg in the upper left corner that was partly distracting. So tell me if I did a good enough job removing it to not notice.