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- Concluding our Photo Tour: Cherry Blossoms and Mt. Fuji at Fuji Five Lakes
- The Old Capital in Bloom: Experiencing Kyoto during Cherry Blossom Season 2023
- Capturing the Ethereal Beauty of Himeji Castle with Adobe Photoshop’s AI Generative Fill
- A Castle in the Blossoms: Capturing Himeji Castle in Cherry Blossom Season 2023
- Island Life and Urban Reflections: Cherry Blossoms in Miyajima and Hiroshima 2023
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Private and Custom Tour of Japan | Maiko Portrait Session in Kyoto
Aug 04 | Evan | No Comments |Just another day of taking portraits in Kyoto! Sometimes I have to take a step back and really appreciate these special portrait sessions in Kyoto as after developing a relationship with a tea house in Kyoto, portrait sessions with a maiko have become a special experience that I’ve been able to offer on almost all my recent photography tours of Kyoto. Taking portraits of a real maiko is always one of the highlights of the tour and an unforgettable experience!
This portrait session was on a moderately hot Summer day in Kyoto. You wouldn’t know it by the sunny weather we had, but it was also in the middle of the rainy season in Kyoto. This means that we had a lot of green to work with! Her beautiful purple kimono looked fantastic with all the green, green and more green!
We got lucky at our portrait location in Kyoto as the temple was actually undergoing a little renovation. Between the renovation and being a little away from central Kyoto, we had the entire place to ourselves to take portraits.
It was also really nice for Isabelle to take portraits of her and chat with her a bit as they are very similar in age but lives they lead are so drastically different! After the first two photos below of the two girls together, there are a few portraits created by and courtesy of Isabelle Nazha Photography.
Private and Custom Tour of Japan | Kyoto
Aug 02 | Evan | No Comments |
After meeting in Tokyo and spending a few days in Kanazawa our private tour of Japan headed to my favorite city in Japan, Kyoto! With it’s mix of modern and tradition, along with what seems like an endless supply of beautiful gardens, shrines and temples, Kyoto is a photographer’s dream. Kyoto is also great for a foodie tour, which this guided tour of Japan was kind of turning into along with the photography aspect!
During the tour of Kyoto we visited as far west as Arashiyama for the bamboo grove and Moss Garden Temple (Kokedera), as far north west as Kamigamo Jinja and north east as Sanzenin and as far south as Fushi Inari Shrine. Of course we visited lots of other places in the center of Kyoto and east side of Kyoto as well! Eating lot’s of delicious food along the way and with a few special experiences arranged for the tour of Kyoto.
Meeting and making Japanese friends is part of my tours that I always try and encourage. After all, the people of Japan are certainly part of what makes Japan such a great place to visit! I arranged for a ikebana (flower arrangement) demonstration, calligraphy lesson, tea ceremony with an English speaking maiko and also a portrait session with a maiko in Kyoto. More on the portrait session with a maiko in Kyoto coming later as that will get it’s own blog post!
As with most of my trips to Kyoto, visiting Fushimi Inari Shrine and the bamboo groves of Arashiyama early in the morning provide the best chance of great photographic opportunity. Not only because of the obvious better light earlier in the morning but also because these places just get too crowded during the day, or really even from 8am or perhaps a little earlier!
Instead of sharing more of my photos, I wanted to share more of Isabelle’s awesome photos from our time touring and exploring Kyoto! All the photos below were created by and courtesy of Isabelle Nazha Photography. Also, be sure to check out her detailed report of our trip to Kyoto from her blog!
Private and Custom Tour of Japan | Kanazawa
Jul 27 | Evan | No Comments |Summer may not be considered the best time to visit Japan with all the heat and humidity but Summer is when many have vacation from school! Just because Summer isn’t cherry blossom or fall leaves season doesn’t mean that Japan isn’t beautiful and a great place to visit in the Summer. I spent most of month of June and part of July in Japan, during the “rainy” season but in 30+ days with a schedule of Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Kamikochi, Shirakawago, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto and finally Tokyo again, I only had a handful of days (maybe 3 or 4) where rain was a disturbance. Not bad at all and because Japan is humid with rain in the Summer, everything is a beautiful shade of green!
Looking at my schedule above, perhaps you could tell that I had 3 guided tours of Japan lined up back to back to back! The first two were small custom and private tours of Japan and final tour was a small group from a school in North Carolina visiting Japan. I didn’t plan it this way, but first had a single private tour of Japan for the middle/end of June and suddenly the other two guided tours of Japan fell into place!
The first guided tour of Japan for the Summer was for a mother and daughter, Ellie and Isabelle. Isabelle just graduated high school and is a fantastic budding photographer, well ahead of my time when I was her age! I will be sharing a few of her great photos here but also be sure to check out the video she made from our trip together in Japan on the testimonial page! Back to the tour’s first stop in Kanazawa though!
Of course we stopped by one of the most famous garden’s in Japan, Kenrokuen and then across the street to Kanazawa Castle Park, and also had the chance to stop by the DT Suzuki Museum, Higashi Chaya (old geisha district), Nagamachi (old samurai district) and even a gold leaf workshop in Kanazawa. Kanazawa is famous for arts and crafts, but almost all gold leaf in Japan comes from Kanazawa. It was really interesting to see and learn how gold leaf is made in Kanazawa.
Of course along the way, we were eating lot’s of delicious food along the way and quickly found out that the two women shared similar tastes as me when it comes to food and desert! There aren’t too many times when I have patience to take photos of my food in Japan before eating it, so you will just have to take my word for it! The photos below are all created by and courtesy of Isabelle Nazha Photography during our days in Kanazawa. Check out Isabelle’s blog post about Kanazawa for more.
2014 Summer and Fall Tours of Japan
May 09 | Evan | No Comments |Japan Photo Guide is excited to announce 2 opportunities to experience Japan in 2014! In June and July of 2014 there is limited availability of short day tours or photography/portrait sessions in Japan. Whether in Tokyo, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Miyajima or someplace else, please contact me about what you want to do in Japan this summer!
The next option is a small group tour to Japan in Autumn of 2014! This will be an small group (maximum of 9 plus me) tour of Japan including Tokyo, Miyajima, Takeda Castle Ruins and Kyoto and the surrounding areas like Nara and Arashiyama. The tour will have a photography focus, but there will also be plenty of cultural and other experiences that you don’t have to be a photographer to enjoy, so partners/friends are welcome (and will get to sleep in while we up early for good light)! Even though it is a group tour, the trip to Japan will still be customized for participants to get the most out of it! Hope to see you in Japan!