Category: Japan
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The Swimming Pool
The Swimming Pool This pool owes its alienating effect to the fact that it’s actually only a baby pool with hardly 10 cm of water on a transparent floor under which people can walk by. It is a work of art by Leandro Erlich in the Museum of Contemporary Art at Kanazawa. I used the photo…
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Colour resonance
Colour resonance In last week’s picture we had a nice example of ‘colour resonance’ and here we have another one, again in Kyoto. Was the first one at Kinkaku-ji, this time it’s in Ginkaku-ji. Even more than last week I suspect the lady here of having dressed in this blouse on purpose, so well it matches…
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What shall I wear today?
What shall I wear today? “This, or perhaps that? No, let’s wear this white blouse today, with that yellow jumper over the top.” This is what the girl might have been thinking that morning, standing in front of her open wardrobe, before she got dressed and left the house. And there she stands, her beautiful,…
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Shades of green in a light drizzle
Shades of green in a light drizzle I could almost say the same thing here as I did about the photo in last week’s post, except that we’ve left Arashiyama and are now in Kinkaku-ji Park, in a different part of Kyoto. Moreover, as you can see, there is now a light drizzle in the…
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Shades of green and yellow
Shades of green and yellow When gazing upon such a beautiful natural scene, a painter might feel the urge to pick up his brushes, a poet to carefully weigh up the words that spring to mind, whilst I … I take the photograph you are now looking at. We are in Arashiyama, the district on…
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The nape of her neck
The nape of her neck Why does the women’s kimono hold such an irresistible fascination for me? The secret lies in the collar. At the back, the kimono features an elegant cut-out with a vertical, stand-up collar. As the rest of the female figure remains hidden from view, the cut-out, the collar and the hair…
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Kimono show
Kimono show Judging from the number of spectators at the Kimono show on the photo, we can infer that people, including the younger generation, remain intrigued by this classical Japanese dress. (See also last week’s post.) That’s interesting, since it is an attire that conceals more than we are used to these days: except for…
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Dream women
Dream women Had the gap between the trees in this Japanese garden been specially designed to grant me a glimpse of the two lovely young women who were posing so beautifully there?As I drew nearer, I saw that they were clad in kimonos, those magnificent traditional robes that transform the women who wear them into…
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Sympathy
Sympathy A girl is photographing tiny red flowers against a backdrop of green leaves. Beautiful flowers. Beautiful girl. Her attentive gaze perceives colour, life and beauty in a minuscule detail of nature. Her gesture betrays a modest, sensitive spirit. And me? I see the outstretched arm, take in the whole scene at a glance and…
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Reflections
Reflections I love reflections and photographs that feature reflections. Reflections invite us to look more closely and encourage us to reflect – see my previous posts ‘Floating Baobab’ and ‘A stick in shallow water’. It is probably no coincidence that the word ‘reflection’ has these two meanings: a reflection or mirror image, and a thought…
