My recent visit to Japan - more images

[David Paterson]

First, a few quiet images from the Nikko Highlands, north of Tokyo.

I'll add more images to this thread over the next week or so.

[tommiejeep]

Dave, love the colours. Excellent images.  I'm a pretty simple a pretty simple guy so the second one is my favourite.  Good to see you posting , good way of coping.
So , you can take the Scot away from 'his' Highlands but not the 'Highlands' away from a Scot .  I look forward to the coming images.
Tom

[armando_m]

Beautiful, really like the first one

[Akira]

Love the last one.  The birch tree is so exquisitely rendered.  But the other two are no inferor.  I like the framing of the first one, too.

[Anirban Halder]

Beautiful photos David. All three are distinguished. Thanks for sharing!

[David Paterson]

Thank you - Tom, Armando, Akira and Anirban - for your comments, for which I'm very grateful.

There is a lot of pleasure, obviously, in taking and making these images but there is great pleasure too, in one's efforts being appreciated by fellow-photographers

[David Paterson]

Staying with trees for the time being, here are three from the historic town of Ashikaga, and three from the popular hiking area of Senjogohara. Both locations to the north of Tokyo.

[Mikes]

Lovely series, Dave. I especially like the contrast provided by the Japanese black pine and ginkgo leaves. Also the stunted and sparse trees in the second last image - a highland marsh area?

[Akira]

Interestingly the latest three looks very much like your landscapes of Scotland...

[David Paterson]

Thank you, Mike and Akira.

Mike - this is the great marsh or swamp which is at the heart of the Senjogohara region. A former lake-bed, I believe.

Akira - a photographer friend here said exactly the same thing, so there must be some truth in it. Both countries are northern hemisphere, and in mountain areas birch and conifer predominate. However, I think there are enough visual clues to know this not Scotland!

[Akira]

However, I think there are enough visual clues to know this not Scotland!

Dave, that should be true, but I also think that the coincidence is a good prove of you having your own sense of vision, which I admire more than anything.

[David Paterson]

Three images of Matsumoto Castle in n.w. Japan. I have read somewhere that Matsumoto-jo was the model for the castle in Akira(!) Kurosawa's filmic masterpiece, "Throne of Blood" (the Japanese title was "Kumo no oso-jo" - "Cobweb Castle"), and the film is a re-tellng of Shakespeare's MacBeth. Shot in black-and-white, the film is visually stunning and its tonal qualities are fantastic. I have tried to mimic that Kurosawa mood, but without much success.