Of Orange Gates And Tourists Hoards.
I am a tourist like every other foreign traveller with no real vested interest in the places I visit.
We can delude ourselves we are special, more caring, less selfish, more in tune with the place and maybe after nine trips to Japan, I am a little more attuned to the people and place, but with this comes an awareness of the massive understanding gap that still exists.
Our first day in Kyoto was weather compelled, which forced a late change to our plans, our intended first day (Tofuku-Ji temple and Fushimi Inari shrine) were instead tackled on day two. Still wet, still hot, but time to crack on.
We caught the start of the high season, which tends to be Spring and Autumn thanks to the beauty of blossoms or turning foliage and avoiding the excessive heat in summer or bitter cold of winter, so lots of tourists were not a huge surprise, but the numbers on this less than conducive day were still a surprise.
Umbrellas effectively double everyone’s footprint as well, not helping the crush.
We all have a right and I did feel for the local travellers, their connection to this special and holy place must have been under strain to some extent.
Tofuku-ji, not featured in this post, was about what we expected, with plenty of wedding couples, some tourism shoots and actual tourists, but a large and gentle place, so room for everyone.
Not sure of the dynamic here, maybe a pre, post or actual wedding day shoot, maybe a modelled sample or simply a tourism shoot, but either way the party showed great patience and generosity sharing the space, not that they had much choice.
So, how do you tackle a location.with a massively focussed visitor pool and limited space?
First, you need to be realistic and patient.
The lower parts were crowded, claustrophobic even, the crowds all clambering for that elusive tunnel shot, most with little idea of what to expect.
If you cannot avoid people, then take what is on offer that may actually add to the place.
Be open to all options available.
At one point, the tight crowds are split into two paths, so shooting from one side to the other allows some decent shots.
You can also pick out details, something I always find natural and exciting.
The different stages of maintenance help certain poles “pop”.
As the crowds thin out, inevitable in the heat as the climb is decent and the numbers below off-putting to many, there are rare opportunities to get empty pathway.
After the second section of larger gates, the main cemetery is reached and the crowds become small knots of people interspersed amongst cold stone monuments with contrasting orange features.
At the top, the view is decent, but not overly photogenic.
The cleverly placed guide shows the way to the true top of the mountain only a short walk away, otherwise, it is back down again.
Go forth……or not.
And finally, some more detail and context shots on the way back.
Quite happy with the optical qualities of the kit Panasonic 12-60, Bokeh may be a little Ni-Sen (cross-eyed), but admittedly a torture test shot.
As Spielberg found with the making of Jaws when the mechanical shark failed to cooperate, sometimes a little is more powerful than a lot.
The pride of oiur gardens tends to be just another plant in it’s native habitat.
As a final note, I found the 2:1 and 1:2 formats helped a lot. The usual formats usual in modern cameras (2:3, 4:3), tend to retain too much information to cut out unwanted clutter. Several of these shots have ugly high or populated low elements that were avoided. My other favoured format, square, may also have worked.
Maybe going in winter or high summer would allow more room, but with these come other issues, so as I find myself saying more and more as I get older, “it is what it is”, no more no less.