A Beautiful Reflection

Family from Australia have been visiting and we took this opportunity for a big trip through Japan with our kids. First stop out of Tokyo was Hiroshima. On the first day, we visited the sites in the city and on the second day we took a ferry to Miyajima (宮島).

Before all the shops had opened, we toured Itsukushima Shinre (厳島神社). There were plenty of photo ops but it wasn't until after returning from a visit of Mt. Misen that the Great Torii Gate became especially photogenic. The tide went out while we were away and the gate that was previously floating above the water was now on dry land. Many people were now walking around taking photos and closely examining the base of the giant torii gate. I'm did get too close to the gate or the sea, but was able to capture an the gate and its reflection in a tidal pool.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f8, ISO 200,1/200 sec.

Ferry from Takamatusu to Shodoshima

Several weekends ago, the family ventured into what many Japanese would call "tooi inaka" or "distant country". We went to the seldom traveled (at least by foreign tourists) island of Shikoku. It's the smallest of the main four islands (Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku) that make up Japan. Funny, thing is once we got to Takamatsu on Shikoku, we boarded a ferry to the even smaller neighboring island of Shodoshima. Anyway, here are the first what may be many posts from my Shikoku adventure.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-Sf8.0, ISO 100, 1/500 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-Sf8.0, ISO 100, 1/400 sec.