Discover Top Posts Tagged with #photypography

Foto : Dariusz Ciszkiewicz -> http://art.foto.hagal.pl/ www.facebook.com/Hagal.Autorska.Galeria https://500px.com/dariuszciszkiewicz

#pagan #woman #beautiful #photypography #photo #celtic

Foto : Dariusz Ciszkiewicz -> http://art.foto.hagal.pl/ www.facebook.com/Hagal.Autorska

Zdjęcie wykonano w trakcie : Castle Party - Bolków 2016

#beautiful woman #red hair #poland #photypography #portrait

#28 - The Secret Garden

With the New Year festivities now over, the beginning of January brought with it a calm rhythm. Naru-chan was on holiday visiting her family and friends; Toyomi and Yasu discussed the new direction for their business, and what needed doing over the coming months. I was left to my own devices, and used this time to get stuck into creating a new website for the Arts and Crafts Village. My latest habit was now evening wanders, and with camera in tow, I would venture out into the mountainous valley just before sunset.

The valley was a great place to practice photography – the ever changing weather would bring with it different moods and impressions. One evening trekking up the mountainside behind the village, I noticed a light shimmering from across the gulley. It was a small house nestled in the trees atop the adjacent knoll. I had never noticed this house as I usually didn’t venture into the mountains so close to dark: wild pigs were a real danger, and twilight was their foraging time.

At first this remote area had seemed so mysterious. However, as time went on, I realised life here was actually quite normal. After school the boy next door would be out on the street rocking his Dwayne Wade shirt, and practising hoops. There was a six o'clock rush hour – those who worked regular jobs in the city all returning home at the same time; their cars headlights would fleetingly illuminate the dark valley.

The days began to merge into one another with a daily routine falling into place. Each morning I would feed the chickens and collect their eggs: they were surprisingly still laying them in the middle of winter. After two of these eggs for breakfast I would work on the website until lunch time, eat a simple lunch of rice and miso soup, and then do some more work on the website before heading out into the fresh evening air for a walk. Nothing glamorous, but I found it fulfilling.

Although it often snowed in the mornings, the winter weather here was mostly sunny and dry; nothing like the damp and dark winter weather I was accustomed to after living in Hamilton and Wellington. The fine weather gave me ample opportunity to shoot pictures of the village to go on the new website.

Whilst I had been busying myself, Toyomi-san had been helping her friend Noda start a landscape gardening business in Osaka. For their first job Toyomi had organised a redesign of an overgrown garden at one of their friend’s homes. There were some large trees which needed cutting down, so Toyomi asked if I would accompany her to Osaka to help them out. After I agreed, Yasan also decided he would come and help; the three of us heading off to the bustling city the following day. We arrived mid-morning at the house in Osaka and were greeted cheerfully by its owner Marine. She proceeded to gently usher us inside, I had to stoop quite dramatically to enter through the tiny front door. It turned out that her home was also a small café, and as we entered, I noticed the soft warm glow this place had. Saori weaving draped from the ceiling, and various pieces of modern and traditional art decorated the walls.

The hot chocolate caringly offered to us was a comfort from the biting outside air. And as I sipped appreciatively, everybody chatted away merrily, catching up on happenings from the New Year.

The conversation then moved to the work ahead, and the garden plans were brought out to discuss the changes taking place over the next few days.

Even though we were in a busy built up area of Osaka, the garden was adorned with many large trees which shielded it from noise and peering neighbours. It was surprisingly peaceful considering we were in the middle of town, and the project had aptly been named the ‘Secret Garden Project’.

Before we began work there was a performance by a local artist whom played an instrument similar to a Swarmandal. Her music was dreamlike, and whilst playing, a beam of sunlight shone upon her in angelic fashion. As her playing softly came to an end, so did the sunshine upon her, and everybody quietly murmured at the symbolism of this.

My first job was to remove some old trees which had succumbed to rot and disease. I revved the chainsaw and as soon as I begun cutting, the machine spluttered, and puttered out with a resentful puff of smoke. I spent the rest of the day cutting by handsaw until the blade gave out with an indignant snap. We decided this was a sign to finish work for today, and headed to dinner with Kanji and Suu in Korean Town. The restaurant decided upon had an exceptionally crafty Maître d' whom suggested many dishes and drinks for us to try. They were all great – but when it came time to pay, it turned out these items were the most expensive on the menu and the bill came to a hefty sum.

After dinner Suu and Kanji headed back home with a skip, hop and small jig to accompany their departure. Where those two find their energy mystifies me – they work all day every day, and still seem to have endless amounts of enthusiasm.

Toyomi, Yasan and I were spending the night at Toyomi’s brother’s home across the other side of town, so we meandered back to Osaka Station to catch the train. The decorations from New Year celebrations still hung from the ceiling, and they shimmered in a mirage of colour changing from blue to green to purple.

On the crowded train I unknowingly performed a cardinal sin by taking this picture of Toyomi. Yasan explained that in the old days if an official had seen you do this you would have your camera confiscated. Train etiquette is very particular, and Japanese people do not like intrusions – they always respect your privacy and space, and are conscious of noise level. Because of this, packed trains remain calm and chaos free.

Too much Korean rice wine and a late night left me feeling groggy the next day. Our goal was to start work again at 9am, but this kind of got pushed till 10. When lunchtime came the others decided it would be best if I headed out for lunch as I needed protein to fuel my physical work; so Yasan and I had lunch in the old shopping streets nearby. I asked him what life was like growing up here. He said his memories of Osaka were fond ones, but that the Osaka that existed now was different to the one he grew up in; he didn’t say whether he thought this a good or bad thing.

We continued our work into the late evening and before we departed, my final job was to take a portrait shot of Noda-san to be used on the brochures for her new landscape business.

The trees which I had cut down over the past two days were to be taken back to the Arts and Crafts Village to be used as firewood, and as we loaded the car it groaned and slowly sunk under the woods weight. As we finished loading the car twilight encroached, and what remained of the days light filtered through the streets.

The journey back to the country side is always an easy one taking the major central highway. We stopped for dinner at a rest stop and I had my usual rice bowl topped with fried meat.

We reached home late, unpacked our gear, leaving the firewood to be unloaded in the morning. The kittens had kept themselves warm by the fireside, and had made a home for themselves inside my desk. Born on my birthday in August, they were now five months old, and although living inside with us for the winter they were still petrified by our presence; although this demeanour always changed when we filled their plates with food.

The following morning was crisp, and when I conjured the motivation to get out of bed, saw that the valley had been adorned in a dusting of snow. It was below zero inside my room so I hurried to the dining room to light a fire. Our time in Osaka was fleeting as we had planned an English lesson for today – most people were unable to attend because of the snow. Nonetheless we carried on with those who could make it, discussing an article from an eco-sustainability magazine. The article which they had chosen had some extremely difficult language in it, and I explained that people don’t use this language when talking to one another. Asako was relieved to hear this as she said the title: ‘Benevolent Universe’ was difficult to decipher even with a dictionary; I laughed, telling her I had same problem.

We continued our lesson by the fire, my mind slowly drifting as the conversation moved to Japanese far beyond my level of understanding. A question directed towards me here and there would snap me back to attention, and I would hurriedly scan through the text to figure out where they were up to. I found that these days I had begun daydreaming a lot – life itself had become very familiar, and through this familiarity I began to see things which at first had not been apparent. Upon the surface everything here seemed so different, but I now saw it wasn’t really ‘that’ different, it was just different.

"What you see is what you know, but what you know is only based upon what you have seen. Therefore, what we think we see is not what we have seen; it is just what we know we saw."

#Japan #travel #photypography #hdr #walking #nature #cafe #hot chocolate #garden #japanese garden #rainbow #osaka #stars #train station #portrait #sunset #kitten #study #philosophy