2017 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan | Kyoto

May 24 | Evan | No Comments |

After visiting Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji, the 2017 Cherry Blossom tour of Japan headed north again to Kyoto.  I’ve said it many times before, Kyoto is my favorite city in Japan and perhaps in the world.  The mix of modern and traditional Japan is fantastic and there are always opportunities for photographers visiting Kyoto. 

For our group of photographers touring Japan in cherry blossom season, the cherry blossoms had momentarily caught up with us and cherry blossoms were in full bloom in Kyoto!  Though cherry blossoms in Kyoto are spectacular, there are many other places that regardless of the cherry blossoms are wonderful for photography.  Kyoto is extremely crowded during this peak season for cherry blossoms, so some of these other place that don’t have cherry blossoms or aren’t famous for their cherry blossoms can be a nice place to take a break from the crowds of tourists visiting Kyoto.

 

No matter how many days you stay in Kyoto, it would be hard to run out of photography opportunities. No matter what time of year, there are always a few places I love returning to like the Golden Pavilion (photo at top of this post), Bamboo Forest of Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Before the gallery I also wanted to touch up on one feature of my new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II.  There are quite a few things I love about my new mirrorless camera, size and weight is obvious and then there is the amazing image stabilization.  I found that quite a lot of times during my trip I was trying to push the limits of the in body image stabilization (IBIS) which is suppose to have 5.5 stops of stabilization and also combined it with the M.Zuiko ED 12-100mm f4.0 IS PRO for an extra stop.  Take a look at a few examples below, first two were hand held with a little body bracing at 1 second.  Yes, a full second!  The cherry blossom one was done with me holding the camera up above my head using flipped screen to compose, not super sharp because there was some wind but still quite amazing for what I was doing.

The 2017 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan took our small group of photographers to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, Wazuka and Fuji Five Lakes.  Take a look at the 2017 Cherry Blossom Tour Trip report to see more from our tour of Japan during cherry blossom season. Want to visit Japan during cherry blossom season with Japan Photo Guide?  The 2018 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan for photographers has limited spaces available, book now!

2016 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan | Arashiyama and Kenninji

May 27 | Evan | No Comments |

Even when visiting the same cities in Japan, every photography tour of Japan has some locations that I’m returning to and some locations that are new.  When visiting Kyoto, Fushimi Inari is always one that photographers want to visit along with the bamboo forest in Arashiyama. One location in Kyoto that isn’t always on my list of places it visit is Kenninji in Gion.

Kenninji and Arashiyama are not close to each other, Kenninji is in Gion and Arashiyama is Western Kyoto, but I’m including them both in this post just go along with the some places I return to and others are visited depending on what mother nature in Japan gives us!

Kenninji a lovely temple and especially a nice place to visit if it’s raining like it was one of our days touring Kyoto.  Kenninji has covered walkways around the edges so you can still appreciate the gardens but also allows photography inside most areas of the Temple.

With Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji Castle already visited, next up for the 2016 cherry blossom tour was Kyoto, my favorite city in Japan!  After Kyoto we would continue our tour of Japan to photography Mt. Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes, still chasing and photographing the cherry blossoms around Japan!  Interested in joining the 2017 cherry blossom tour?  Please contact me today to start your trip to Japan during cherry blossom season or any other time you’d like!