Silent Japan: The Images – Part 4

This is Part 4 of a series of blog posts on the images that were featured in my Silent Japan photography exhibition.

The following image titled “Mount Fuji, Honshu, Japan. 2009” was taken in Hakone, a small spa resort town about an hour out of Tokyo.  We were quite blessed to be able to catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji from there.  The weather was cloudy and misty and within a few minutes after taking the photo, Mount Fuji was once again hidden behind the clouds.  I really like the layering of this image due to the cloud/mist cover which provides a different feel and mood to the photos of Mount Fuji that I normally see on tourist brochures.  This image printed on Washi reminds me of a watercolor painting.

The following image titled “Torii, Study 2, Lake Ashi, Honshu, Japan. 2009”  is my take on an iconic view commonly seen in tourist brochures.  This image was taken about an hour or so after the above Mount Fuji image.  Normally, tourist brochures show this scene featuring a bright blue sky, a snow capped Mount Fuji looming in the background behind the trees and lake, and the bright red Torii gate sitting on the water.  It was misty and cloudy when I was there and the mist moving across the lake provided a tranquil mood to the whole scene.  I took a longer exposure of the scene which also added to the mysterious feel of the image.

The following image titled “Private Garden, Study 3, Kanazawa, Honshu, Japan.” was taken in the Nomura Samurai Family Residence in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture.  According to a magazine article displayed at the entrance of the residence, the private garden was voted the 3rd best private garden in the whole of Japan.  This is one of my favorite images because of the composition (e.g. framing of the garden using the Japanese windows, the diagonal leading line of the roof in the centre, etc).  I now have this image hanging at the end of a windowless corridor at home and it looks right at home there. Like all the other images in the Silent Japan series, printing it on Washi seems to add an extra special dimension to the look of the image.