kyoto – RadMania

Japan has got to be one of the best places to travel with a camera – the hyper-industrialised cities, bright lights of the shopping districts, old temples and shrines, not to mention the epic snowscapes. Japan is full of epic visual scenes. And so it was a dream to finally be able to visit Japan this year … for snowboarding, and photography.

Along with what Apple likes to tell us is the “World’s most popular camera” in my pocket at all times, I travelled to Japan with my new Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, a pocket Canon Powershot AS3300 IS and a funny Russian panoramic 35mm film camera, a Horizon Perfekt. Have you had a look at the quick little blog posts of my iPhone photos from Tokyo and Kyoto? Well, here is a selection of my non-iPhone snaps.

I bought the old fashion, fully mechanical Horizon Perfekt from Lomography, and this trip in February was my first real chance to use it (besides one test role). The Perfekt uses a swing lens that moves left-to-right to project a 120-degree-wide image across almost two normal frames of 35mm film. As with any film, and particularly as I wanted to cross-process Fuji slide film, using the Perfekt was a little bit hit or miss – but that’s the fun of film! I took along a digital light meter to try and take some of the exposure setting guesswork out of it, and some of the results came out great.

As it’s taken me so long to post these extra non-iPhone photos, I think in future I’ll travel on non-photographic trips with just the little phone, and maybe a film camera for fun. I hope you enjoy these photos, as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Click on the photos to view them in a pop-up gallery…

Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto

Wooden prayer wall at Fushimi Inari Temple, Kyoto.

Kyoto view from Kiyomizudera Temple.

Lanterns at a Kyoto temple.

A traditional restaurant facade in Kyoto.

The famous Zen rock garden at Ryonanji Temple, Kyoto.

The external corridor at Sanjusangendo Temple, Kyoto.

A couple of locals enjoy the Kyoto sunset dominated by Hokanji pagoda near the Gion district. (Yasaka no To Pagoda)

Flying into Sapporo.

Niseko trees during a blizzard.

Niseko forest at dusk.

Niseko whiteout.

Niseko forest during a blizzard.

Snowy Niseko streets

Snowfalling in Niseko.

A Niseko blizzard.

Downtown Tokyo.

Downtown Tokyo from the Metropolitan Government Building.

Akihabara street scape.

Inside a Manga shop in Akihabara.

Looking up in downtown Tokyo.

The guard towers along the moat at the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

A security guard (or cop) cycling round the Tokyo Imperial Palace gardens. They love their old school Euro-style uniforms in Japan.

A well-dressed local on his lunch break in the ruins of the tower at the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

Tokyo skyline from out front of the Train station.

Shibuya Crossing (from inside Starbucks).

Shibuya Crossing.

Shinjuku back streets.

Shinjuku streetscape.

Lanterns in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Tokyo subway

All asleep on the Tokyo subway.

Tokyo train.

End of the film… You’ve gotta love that authentic light burn. No Photoshop after-effect here.

To see more from Japan take a look at my iPhone shots from Kyoto and Tokyo.

Ah, Kyoto. The former feudal capital of Japan and home to 2000 temples and shrines, 17 of them UNESCO World Heritage listed. Yep, it’s a “must see” city in Asia … so, we just had to err, see it.

After zipping through the heavily industrialised countryside of Japan and gazing through the surprisingly small shinkansen (bullet train) windows, first impressions of this city were not good. I wish I had read the Lonely Planet entry for Kyoto before I arrived, because I was expecting a beautiful old place. Instead you are affronted with the typical beige and grey concrete blocks and crowded streetscape. However, when you get out of the city, and find the pockets where the famous temples are, and head to the foothills on each side of the city, then the true magic and hidden beauty of Kyoto becomes apparent. And the traditional feel of the city speaks to you. We even caught a glimpse of a couple of geisha nipping into a restaurant before the start of their night’s entertainment. A rare sight indeed. But sorry, they were so quick in avoiding any cameras that no-one on the street got a photo.

Here’s just a few photos from my iPhone from two days in Kyoto. I took my new Canon 1D Mark IV around with me, but you know what, due to the ease of iPhone-ography, I haven’t even uploaded the shots onto my computer yet to look at them.

But sometime soon I will post some entries with my “proper” photos, and the slide film panoramas from my new Horizon Pefekt camera.