Neighborhood Akiba

I'm not sure what kind of picture the rest of the photographers were waiting around for when I said goodbye to the big sakura. There really wasn't much going on. The clouds rolled back over the ridge and blocked out the sun again. I split toward a few more spots of potential sakura. In hindsight I should have tried shooting some more pictures of sakura when they were pretty. But the fact I don't care for flowers much doesn't make me regret it THAT much.



I didn't take any close up shots of the actual flowers of the trees. I needed something to even that out. I knew that it would be good to make use of the rain. I crossed some rivers and drove up some hill sides to reach the Akiba shrine area. There is a famous festival there that might see its demise simply because of lack of population. It's coming and it won't be stopped. Sad but true.



Up from here is another old sakura but the lighting was terrible and some other people were in the way taking pictures. I just gave up on it and looked for some other spots like this old house I saw on the way up a narrow road. Has a nice Japanese feel to it, right?



The white specks on the mountain in the background are random sakura trees. I like those little irregular colors in the vast swaths of sugi forest. Look closely at the next shot and see the fine webbing only noticeable afterwards at my computer. There was some weird stuff going on in the blur in the background. Nice distortion with a patch of sunlight that poked out.



I really liked this garden. There was a stupid blue power line running across the middle of the tree so I had to chop the picture to keep it out. Those fat koi, evergreens, and dark water had great contrast on an otherwise dreary day. I chickened out and didn't tress pass down into the garden area. I'm responsible you see.



The light was fading and it was time to call it a day. This couldn't have been a better way to say farewell to the day. Till next time sakura. Till next time...