TOKYO TOWERING

I'd been to Tokyo Tower on a previous visit to Japan, also cutting through Zojoji Temple so I honestly had not planned to retrace my steps there. But V had to go to Tsukiji that morning to get some knives and I didn't particularly want to join her (also having visited Tsukiji last time) so I had an hour or so to burn in Hamamatsucho by myself and decided to go for a bit of a walk.

I could honestly have gotten as far as the Tower but settled for hanging around Zojoji Temple, watching a brilliant performing monkey, fabulous street fashion and just soaking in the good weather and autumn sights.

CUTTING EDGE

Growing up in Sydney, I've never really experienced a 'city' area that felt like it could never grow old. Six years of teenagerdom spent exploring the nooks and crannies of the key areas of the CBD, traipsing up and down the George St spine and meandering into ribs and vertebrae streets extending from there.

It's a city that promises a healthy variety of attractions but one that you could see yourself working patiently towards the end of - and perhaps we've already began to plateau, if the conversations of 'What do you want to do in the city?' and 'I dunno' are anything to go by.

In other words, it is not a city of fast-paced change, at least to a teenager, and very much nothing near the speed of Asia. Shibuya, Harajuku and Omotesando are your 'never sleeping cities', covered in a layer of sparkling billboards and filled with the constantly shifting energy that can only come from being in and amongst a sea of people.

TALE OF TWO CITIES

Kyoto, in many ways, feels like two cities. In Shijo-dori and Gion, a riverbank full of autumn trees and bicycles feels separated, in so many ways, from the gleaming towers of skyscrapers, beautiful lines of steel-coated architecture at Kyoto Station and the polished, brightly lit aisles of ISETAN from the modern skyscrapers.

The small overlaps you may see are in the lanterns of the pedestrian awnings or in the beautiful calligraphy decorating the walls of a shop inside the large shopping centres.

THE FOXES IN THE AFTERNOON

I've wanted to visit Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) ever since being blown away by the beauty of that one scene from the Memoirs of a Geisha movie where Chiyo's running through the red gates (aesthetically beautiful movie, if a little questionable with its casting etc. ...but I digress).

As with a lot of other temples and shrines in Kyoto, the quiet escape of forests and the scattered sunlight filtering between the trees made it a wonderful escape from dense, bustling city life.

The shrine was much quieter than, say, Kiyomizu or Kinkakuji but there were still a decent number of visitors.

KIYOMIZU PILGRIMMAGE

Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺) was another famous, tourist-heavy area in Kyoto but definitely worth a visit. This was my second visit and I was glad to come back - though perhaps I was less eager to do the traditional 'tourist' activities like the Love Stone and drinking the water from the Otowa waterfall. It was a lot more interesting to just observe other people.

The street leading up to Kiyomizu-dera from Kiyomizu-michi bus stop is the Kiyomizu Monzekai loaded with store after store of traditional food and souvenirs and milling with lots of people in kimonos - not all Japanese (you can rent a kimono...it looked so fun to dress up). Definitely grab a few samples of mochi and tea while you work your way up

THEY PRAY IN RED & GOLD

Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺), Ryoan-ji (龍安寺) and Ninna-ji (仁和寺), three pockets of serenity and silence, removed in many ways from the urban sprawl of high apartments and tightly packed streets. Doesn't mean you won't find people seeking the same beauty you are, but even huge crowds can't quite upset the feeling of slow contemplation.

More writing about our temple-hop route at The Afterimage.

CITY OF LIGHTS

Close to the main shopping streets of Dotonbori, Shinsaibashi-suji and Ebisu-bashi, Osaka is the condensed, loud version of your Times Square billboard extravaganza, curiously merged with incredibly laid back pockets of cheerful, Kansai-ben speaking locals in the smaller areas around Namba, dotted by shops and chefs who stop to pose for photos.

SHE IS

A few favourite photos from Her: Versions of Womanhood performance from Verge Festival. Full set of photos on my Facebook page. It was a first to work with such an interesting space with such specific lighting, working around audience members and capturing the vivid expressions of moving, talking performers. 

TURNER

Photos on the exact one-month anniversary from the impulse trip down to Canberra for the Turner from the Tate exhibition. Brought my 5D out for a spin and discovered the lens distortion fallacies of the kit lens due to short height and the unforgiving geometry of painting frames. The 50mm purchase is happening very soon.

Words and actual details of the trip at The Afterimage.

SHINE IN STYLE

Some quick shots from the Style Masterclass hosted at The Galeries by Margaret from Shine by Three. It was a lovely evening with delicious vanilla and passionfruit macarons and champagne. Margaret was super inspiring, eloquent and generally so cheery, it was great to finally meet her (:

NEAREST & DEAREST

I admit, this is a rather self-indulgent and unsatisfying small collection of photos (mostly due to my reluctance to show any faces and, as it was a family photoshoot, photos of faces was kind of the point). I was supposed to be a subject, also.

To take family photos for fourteen people walking around The Domain before the Australian sun gets overly glare-y is already a difficult feat in itself. I don't think our poor photographer was prepared for his subjects to also be wielding three DSLRs and no doubt crouching down in the most inconvenient of moments trying to capture the shot he was supposed to capture (I'm sorry!)

This was an exercise of releasing the metaphorical kraken, throwing oneself into the sea and trying to float. My beloved but terrifying (and unnamed) Canon 5D, manual setting and manual focus (half the time) with moving, reluctant subjects. While walking across uneven ground in 8cm platform heels (I was a subject, remember?).

Lots of trial and error, but I felt like we had reached a sort of truce at the end, with tentative feelings of confidence fluttering to the surface. I may take it out to play again soon.

VIDINC 2013

This was the line to meet Ryan Higa at VIDinc.

I took a lot of performance photos (and recorded segments...does anyone want to see it on a potential Youtube channel?). They were all compositionally similar because I was stuck behind the VIP barrier and couldn't move so I was relatively sparing with the number of photos I chose to edit.

Below, my favourite photos from the day. 

For words (and extra photos you can't find here), read my full VIDinc recap at The Afterimage.

AU NATUREL

The good thing about having various wildlife hanging around within petting distance was that we discovered some unsuspected kangaroo whisperer skills.

FLUORESCENT SPARKS

Favourite snaps from winter holidays. The famous Gelato Messina on a busy Saturday night and sitting under the harsh fluorescent lights of a nearby park that turned the gelato into richly flavoured otherworldly moons. My little camera worked hard without flash so forgive the slight motion blur. Lots of laughing conversation, gummy bears, 10pm Woolworths runs and sparklers.

Also - I now have a Facebook Page. Because Social Media Marketing 101 (but no, it's so I can share stuff with friends more easily than posting dozens of blogspot links on my Timeline)

HALF LIVES

Too many of these photos have been sitting in my harddrive without a blog post to call home and most are remnants of food shots and random events from last semester (and the beginnings of Winter Break). It's a veritable mess, really. We have black sesame drink foam art from Hana Hana, shots from uni society events, a Lorraine's Patisserie marscapone cake and glimpses of what I'm going to write about in my Takeru review and creepy Gelato Messina shots - more to come later.

But mostly just food (managing multiple blogs and WeekendNotes account is hard).

With second semester of uni set to suck out my soul for another thirteen weeks very soon, I thought I might as well post these shots up and get a clean start. I'm working on a post with my favourite shots from Winter Break as well, so keep an eye out (: