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A RARE QUIET IN KYOTO (DAY 2)

Location: Kyoto
Date: March 2020

Camera: Canon EOS 6D
Lenses: Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8

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A good travel and landscape photographer knows that a lot of the best shots are found in the early hours of the morning—before the shadows grow too harsh, before the highlights get blown out and before the location inevitably fills with people. The importance of the golden hour cannot be understated. A good travel and landscape photographer knows this. A good travel and landscape photographer has their alarm set for an hour before sunrise and is on-location as the first rays of golden light peak over the horizon.

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Hai and I… were not on-location at dawn.

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We were, however, out the door by just after 8AM and being early spring, the sun had not been up for too, too long and the lighting was therefore not yet too horrific. (In fact, reflecting upon my photos from that morning, I'd say it was more or less perfect.) We were also fortunate that the day's first destination was the fairly densely forested area of Fushimi Inari Taisha.

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This grand old shrine is quite a sight to behold at night, but it's definitely at it's most breathtaking in full daylight, when the vermillion of the countless torii gates is most vivid, and brilliantly complements the clear, pale blue sky overhead.

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Similar to the night before, we ended up wandering the grounds of Fushimi Inari Taisha for close to three hours. There were, surprisingly, plenty of non-Japanese visitors aside from us, but it wasn't even comparable to the dense crowds of 2018. This time around, plenty of pathways and staircases were empty for stretches of time. It was comfortable, refreshing and satisfying.

We had lunch in Uji before visiting the Buddhist temple Byodo-in, of ten-yen coin fame. While enjoyable, the 2PM sun and surprising number of domestic tourists left something to be desiredin regards to photography anyways.

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By half-past four, Hai and I were back in the Higashiyama area, making our way to the final destination of our two-day trip.

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As I mentioned in the previous day's writeup, my previous visit to Kiyomizu-dera was a rather disappointing one due to the muggy weather, crowdedness and scaffolding covering the structure. 

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© 2008 – 2025 Jeremy Hannigan. All rights reserved.

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