Today was a wonderful, sunny day here in Kyoto. It was really quite pleasant as we made our way around town. We opted to set out walking and then cab it back to hotel once we petered out, and this turned out to be a fabulous idea. We walked over to the Gion district which is famous for, among other things, being home to most of the geishas. We saw a few of them, but it was more about the experience of the entire district. It really was some great shooting. We stopped to have some tea and chatted with the guy from the tea spot for a while. He was really nice and we talked about Kyoto, life in Japan, Texas, New Mexico, food, and probably a bunch of other things I’m forgetting right now. This shot was taken right near the tea stop and, as you can tell, we also managed to somehow time this trip pretty well with the near peak fall foliage, at least a lot of the leaves in Kyoto right now seem to be red.
Kyoto really seems to be a magical place for photography, at least I am really loving it so far. There is just something so special about the architecture, the food, the people. Even if this trip ended tomorrow, it has been really fabulous. A fabulous experience so far and it’s hardly begun, as most of our crew did not arrive just yet. Tomorrow, they start filtering in and we get to meet the other photographers, plus the artisans.
For now, for today, it was really great to spend a day outside, in the sun, walking around, cameras in tow, just taking it all in. I always say that, when I travel, I love to get lost in a place. For a time today, for a short time, I was lost in Gion and oh what a wonderful experience that was.
Until next time…