Sunday in Chibadera

Yesterday was one of those rare Sundays where I didn't go to Tokyo. It was a calm, sunny (but chilly) afternoon in quiet Chibadera. 





















Lisa and I did some shooting while we walked back to my apartment. The sun was quickly setting as we walked, but lighting was so beautiful and warm. 



 
Thank you Lisa for being a lovely model. Such a natural look!


 (above) photo credit to Lisa

It's interesting how the same street can look different when you actually take the time to look around. It was nice to slow down and take in what I had always thought of as familiar surrounding. 


Once you get used to living somewhere, it's so easy to not look or think twice about the buildings, the streets, the people, or just the feel of the city sometimes. Somehow, photography seems to push that boundary and make you look at normal things differently.

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”                                                                                                                                                                   ― Dorothea Lange
Photo credit to Lisa for the pictures of me

Back at the apartment

Working with artificial lighting

Cool interior decor at Honkytonk restaurant

Thank you Lisa for showing me I can shoot anywhere I am. Even if a place doesn't seem very special, you never know what you'll see when you slow down and change how you look at things.


“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” 
                                                                                                                                          ― Marc Riboud

An Autumn Dream: Koishikawa Korakuen

Bloody reds, juicy oranges, golden yellows, rich greens...
Autumn colors in Japan are truly a spectacle.
It was kind of cloudy this past Sunday at Koishikawa Korakuen gardens, but the autumn leaves still stood out vividly against the grey sky. Tokyo Dome and many office buildings were next to the garden, but the garden was quiet and tranquil.
garden entrance
Nature has such gorgeous colors. It was a blanket of bright oranges, reds, and yellows above my head as I walked along the path right outside the garden.
 
Orange explosion

 
Thank you to Aiko for being a lovely model!


We got to the garden around 3, but it got dark pretty quickly. The overcast skies gave the garden a lonely, nostalgic feel.
 


The autumn leaves framed the lake beautifully like a dream.
I'm so grateful for the wonderful colors.




 

  
紅葉 season is so short and fleeting...
The colors are almost too amazing to be real.

 

The night illumination near Tokyo Dome displayed some wild, neon colors. The tunnel of Christmas lights looked great from afar, but walking through it really hurt the eyes.
 
 
Seeing Tokyo Dome through the tunnel of lights
This was near the tunnel of lights in the area called "Deep Love Illumination." Somehow that didn't sound right.

 
Nature never ceases to impress me. I will definitely miss seeing autumn foliage in Japan.