Japan has not changed, but it seems I have.
My love of the place is as strong, but it is more mature, more realistic.
Even exposed pipes in temple gardens have to be “perfect”.
I have had a couple of days of wandering familiar and less familiar places and the images I am taking are, well, boring me a bit.
Something I noticed when I started to review and sort the images from my earlier trips was that the images of gardens, quiet places and temples were the ones that felt re-discovered, rescued from memory obscurity.
The street shots were there and still satisfied me, but the garden shots, often taken by reflex, habit even, were the ones that stuck.
From one of the earliest trips, somewhere in Tokyo. I would only frame a handful of the images from my previous trips, this and a couple of its friends would be in the mix.
Ginkaku-ji temple today.
I was aware there may be a change and have an open mind to adapting, so thankfully my mindset and technical processes are flexible.
The hero of the day was the 15mm on the Pen F with the 45mm and EM10.2 as runners up.
The complimentary contradiction tht is the 17/15 pairing defies some logic. Over priced for effectively one lens ($1300au combined for basically a medium speed semi wide prime), the two have very different dynamics in use.
The 15 is cleaner to work with for landscapes, the AF/MF switch being fiddlier, but more defined. The Bokeh rendering is modern (smooth-fast), the colours brilliant and light, great for bringing out gentle light and putting some snap into overcast days. The width just a little more relaxed, but it never seems distorted or obvious.
The 17 has the better for street use AF/MF click-back, but I have found for non street uses, the MF has to be watched (I like to set it to 5ft at f2.8-5.6 depending on light), but often find if I am not careful, it rolls around to infinity very easily. The rendering is deep and forgiving, ideal for “zone” focussing, the colours more realistic and better at handling contrasty light and the slightly tighter angle suits subject based images better.