Location: Fushimi-Inari, Kyoto, Japan, Map There are apparently over thousand of these torii gates at the Fushimi Inari shrine and it's a wonderful experience to walk through them. Each of these torii gates has been donated to the shrine by individuals and business and their names are written on the torii pillars. One of the biggest challenges to photograph here is to avoid the tourists crowd, so early in the morning is the best time to be here. The shrine itself is very beautiful as well but nothing beats these torii gates photographically. Fushimi Inari shrine is also located little bit outskirts of Kyoto and city bus, for which you can buy day pass, does not go here. So train is the best option and one can get down at Fushimi train station and walk half a mile or so to reach this shrine. I had a wonderful visit to Japan during late summer of 2013 and got to see both it's historic and modern faces. Kyoto was my destination of choice to see old temples and shrines of Japan and I focused on Tokyo to witness it's modern lifestyle. Below are a few images from the trip. I was thoroughly impressed by how well Japan's public transportation worked and how easy it was for me to visit all these places. Being mostly a vegetarian eater, I was a bit concerned about the food at first but was pleasantly surprised by abundant and excellent food choices available. Japan is a country everyone should visit at least once. There is so much to learn from it's culture and day to day life practices of Japanese people such as their approach towards conservation, food and emphasis on being polite. Link to sites I visited
"Pigeon Point Lighthouse" Location: Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Half-Moon Bay Area, California. The lighthouse was built in 1871 and stands at one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. On a cloudy I like to experiment using long exposures which not only allow me to smooth the water but also capture the wind driven motion of the clouds. Tech Info: Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L @33mm Camera: Canon 5D Mk II Exposure: 55sec at f/11 and ISO 160 Filters: SinghRay 3 Stop ND grad rotated during exposure The water here can come out overexposed. By rotating ND filters this can be minimized. Another technique is to simply block the light using an opaque object.
"North Palisades" Location: Dusy Basin, Kings Canyon Backcountry, California. These are some of the highest mountains in the Seirra Nevada range, next only to majestic Mt. Whitney. I captured this image while camping at scenic Dusy Basin. The backcountry hike to Dusy Basin is one of the most scenic hikes to do in eastern sierra mountains. The dusy, as a final destination, offers fantastic views of the sierra mountains and pristine quietness that is hard to find anywhere else. Making this particular image was an interesting adventure. We had planned a two day hike and it was raining on and off all the time. When we reached here it was raining again and I thought I would miss any opportunity to photograph here. Then clouds opened up giving me a brief window of about an hour when I could get this image. I was happy that the clouds were still in the sky while opening up just a bit to allow sunlight to shine on the peaks. Tech Info: Lens: Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L @ 26mm Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mk II Exposure: 5sec at f/16 and ISO 50 Filters: LEE ND Grads 0.9 soft edge along with Singh-Ray Vari ND solid grad set at about 8 sopts to allow long exposure One has to really visit eastern sierra landscapes to truly appreciate its beauty. I don't think any photograph can do the justice of what it feels to hike on barren landscapes, camp besides some of the most scenic lakes and feel out of breath at high altitudes. Over the years I have had a few chances to hike on eastern sierra mountains including Mt. Whitney, but only recently I began to photograph it. So here are few images from one of the most unique places on the Sierra-Nevada mountain range.
