Evening Glow

The gorgeous pinks of sakura, illumined by a setting sun. Alone, they were pale white, but only after everyone but a few remained in the temple garden, did the falling sun reveal this splendour amongst us.

Rainbow Sakura

One of my favourite shots of spring, the background is a hot-air balloon. Early in the morning , beautifully clear sunlight illuminated this scene.

Cherry Blossom Snow

Snow? No, falling cherry blossoms, in one of their last days, surrounding people like us having 'hanamis', cherry-blossom picnics. They have a magical quality and are one of the highlights of the year in Japan.

Hondoji Sakura Macro

Macros are incredibly hard to get, as they sway around in the breeze so much. Here's one that came out okay. They are sort of like natural bouquets, entrancing to see and smell.

Hondoji Sakura

Recently, the sakura have been out. It's a case of catching them before they fade. The feeling of walking amongst them is certainly sublime, so I've tried to capture it with camera and video. It meant a trip back to Kita Kogane, where my well-known and equally loved temples are to be found.

Yet each moment is quite unique.

THE END.

The trees have been here for centuries. 

A single blossom, swaying in the breeze. 

The colours getting richer as the day starts to end... 

The whole scene. 

Getting better all the time... 

Baby steps in the temple...

Sometimes a combination of the two is good, too... 

They also come in pink- this was our favourite tree, right near the enterance to the temple. I try to wait for the sun to go down a bit for the richer colours in the light. 

They have a light feeling and an effervescent nature. 

This tree is apparently over 350 years old- yet the Sakura are as fresh as dewdrops. 

A couple of friends joined me- AJ and Marcus- you can see them on the left. A lot of people came to see the Sakura. the zooms and close-ups, by the way, were taken with my Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6D ED lens. It was my first time to try it on digital and I'm pretty happy with what it can do!

Sakura, Sakura

Some pictures from about a week ago... when the sakura (cherry blossoms) were still out. this is in tozenji temple- my favourite and near my house. Taken with the Tokina 12-24mm F4 DX lens. You can also see a gallery of these pictures either at PBase, or by clicking on the rotating animated slideshow thingie on the right.