Photography and Rikugien

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(See page 2 for the German version)

I haven’t been writing on this blog very diligently, lately. Of course I could say that Tokyo has, as always, kept me on my toes, but that might not be a good excuse. To be honest, I was just focusing a little more on my photography and somewhat neglected writing. I have been visiting a monthly photography course since about nine months and occasionally also go to other short (1 day or a few hours long) photo classes, and besides that, I have also been visiting some photo exhibitions for further inspiration. As a result, my perception regarding taking photos has changed a lot: I pay much more attention than before on composition, colors, sharpness and (intentional) blur. I now know what to do when faced with low light conditions (even if my current camera surely has its limits), I think about why I like a picture – or why not. And I’m now convinced that light is simply the most important factor when taking pictures (… an ode to the late afternoon sun …).

I was also searching for the perfect light last week, when I went to Rikugi-en with some of my classmates from the monthly photo class (all very nice photo nerds). The Rikugi-en is a historic garden/ small park near the Komagome Station and also very popular in autumn, as we quickly found out; people were even queuing in front of the entrance, so as not to miss the colorful autumn foliage this year. Unfortunately, it was a little bit disappointing, as only about 40% of the leaves had already turned orange or red, while the rest was still very green, as if wanting to be rebellious against the seasons (it was, after all, the end of November already!). Nonetheless, I was still able to capture some photogenic moments, fortunately – but have a look yourself 😉