Photography #10
World of Color
Today marks the start of Golden Week in Japan. Four national holidays cluster together to create a mid-week break (Wednesday this year, sometimes Thursday) and a five-day weekend, so people can use a couple of vacation days to make an easy full week off. There’s also a Silver Week in September that creates another five-day weekend.
People travel extensively across the country during this time, and it’s a great time of year for it. Sendai is warm but not hot, and there’s a wide mix of flora in bloom. The country is popping with color, which has made for a great photography topic to dive into.
There is so much to learn about color in photography! As an amateur photographer, I spent my earliest days learning how to choose the right exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) and then learning different geometries that can be used to frame shots. Color theory has always felt the most daunting for me, and it’s the aspect of photography I’ve put off diving into the longest.
Some photographers can do incredible things with color editing — Lightroom and Photoshop give you the ability to select specific colors and change them into any other color, dim them, or make them super saturated. How much to edit and what palettes to emphasize often come down to personal style, something I haven’t figured out for myself yet.
I tend to stay away from a heavy editing hand on color. Sometimes I’ll try to correct for overexposure of photos taken midday when the sun has washed them out, but on the whole I try to keep the colors the way I experienced them in the moment, only touching up to re-create that moment rather than create something synthetic. That being said, I am a sucker for a good filter... so do whatever creates a photo you like to look back on.
Ashikaga Wisteria Park
Cherry blossoms in Japan symbolize change and the fleeting nature of life. Apropos of that, they were barely in full bloom for a week! It was a really fast transition from bud to petals to just green-leafed trees. That fleeting nature is echoed across Japanese culture — the school year ends in March and begins again in April, so students are graduating or being promoted right as the blossoms peak. Many anime lean into this too; in My Hero Academia, when All Might tells Midoriya that he can be a superhero, it’s set amongst falling cherry blossom petals.
But that’s enough on cherry blossoms, this section is meant to be about wisteria! The oldest wisteria trees are over 1,200 years old, dating back to the Heian era. We didn’t see either of those, but we did see ones that were 100–200 years old.
Wisteria is common throughout Japan, but mostly on trellises. It is incredibly heavy, so you need a strong base to hold it up. This has two effects: it’s less ubiquitously found in nature, and it’s usually part of deliberate city planning in parks.
Cherry blossoms are just found everywhere — on mountains, on riverbeds, in parks, in someone’s backyard. Wisteria is something you go to visit. Ashikaga Wisteria Park was a three-hour trek for us, and it has a “constructed” beauty. It was an amazing park filled to the brim with flora, but it felt distinct from the cherry blossoms, which could be readily enjoyed on a stroll around town or a neighborhood jog.
Because everyone comes to the park to see the wisteria, it’s mobbed with people who have their phones out wanting to take shots of the trees and selfies in front of the flowers. I’m being hypocritical, because I had my camera out doing the same thing — but it did make me wonder what the experience would be like if everyone had to put their phones away and take in the moment, unfiltered through a screen.
A hundred years ago, the experience would have been much more serene and quiet. Then again, our knowledge of horticulture has expanded so much that the gardens we can grow today are far beyond what would have been feasible in the 1800s. It’s a trade-off.
Sendai Matsuri
Life has gotten lively in Sendai. Emily and I are really experiencing “The City of Trees” (Mori no Miyako) in its prime.
I’ve gotten in the habit of walking or running around the city with no particular destination in mind. The benefit is that sometimes we stumble upon unexpected delights.
Last Saturday was a fortuitous day as I had two lucky chances to get out and enjoy unique events in the city.
In the morning, I was out on a run and came across a coffee festival. Dozens of coffee shops and bakeries from around many of Japan’s prefectures had come to open small stands. I took a long lunch there and enjoyed the live music that was playing.
Later that day, Emily was out walking to meet up with a friend and found a classic car festival happening at a nearby park. She suggested I go take a look, and it was a gorgeous 70-degree day, so I wandered over and got some great photos of the cars.
The owners sat proudly nearby — cars they’ve clearly maintained themselves over many decades. They seemed pretty reserved until a kid came up and asked to sit in the car, at which point they eagerly offered up a photo opportunity.
In many ways, I was reminded of home. Chicago comes alive when the weather warms up, and it’s hard to go around the city during the summer without stumbling into a street festival or block party.
Theme for next week | Light at dusk
I would give this post a “double like” if I could!!
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!!