Autumn 2006

I've been really slack with the blogging for the last couple of months but have been trying to work out a decent workflow with the thousands of photos i've taken during Autumn and made the mistake of only shooting in raw which is a pain in the ass if you just want to do a quick blog. anyway autumn is well and truly gone but here's a few pictures of some of the places i visited in October, November and December.

Koyosan in October. This was the first place we visited to see the Koyo (red autumn leaves). It's a small temple village on top of mount Koyo. It's also famous for Okonoin cemetry which is home to thousands of corporate graves and famous figures of Japanese history.

Takedao Onsen village. I came across this one by accident and the leaves changed about a month earlier here because it's in the mountains. It was a great day hiking and only about 30mins from home.

Ryuanji temple in Mino NP. I went here many times over Autumn because it's very close to home. This is where i saw the Yamabushi festival earlier in the year.

Yoshiminedera about halfway between Osaka and Kyoto. It's recent fame is being one of the places used for Memoirs of a Geisha. I saw it on TV as one of the autum secrets of Kansai. Certainly not a secret anymore. There was about 200 people waiting at the bus stop for the bus that only left every hour and was even worse coming home. It was one of the most beautiful temples i've been to. Really big grounds and lots of smaller temples to look at. Nice view from the top of the mountain as well.

This was also taken at Yoshiminedera. I like the autumn colours and the beautiful bokeh caused buy the shallow DOF using a 300mm f4 prime lense.

The famous Sanzen-in in Ohara, Kyoto. One of the better spots in Kyoto for Koyo viewing. It Was really busy but easy to find a quiet corner. Many of the small temples and shrines give you green macha tea and japanese sweets as you sit on the tatami looking over the temple garden.

the famous statues of Sanzen-in. These can usually been seen on posters at most train stations in the Kansai area.

just another one from Ohara to show the contrasting colours you see here in Autumn. Very different to Autumn back home in Queensland.

Ichio near Kiyomizu in Kyoto.


a small shrine in Kyoto. We planned to go to Kiyomizu to see the koyo lit up at night but there were thousands of people lined up to get in so we decided not to bother. We had to walk some back streets to get back to the station because of the crowds and came across this place.


just walking between temples in Arashiyama. This is two images blended because there was to much exposure variation in the scene.



my take on a classic arashiyama autumn photo. Arishiyama is famous for the bamboo grove and momoji.

finally my last Autumn stop, Tofukuji in Kyoto. This is apparently the most visited temple in Japan of Autumn. It was nice but certainly not as spectacular as some of the other places i visited over the last few months.