As The Sun Goes Down…
And the moon comes up – magical changes are happening every day. Getting bit on the arms and legs by mosquitoes never stopped me from taking a good sunset, no sir! Here’s the latest story:
Sometimes when I get home from work I’ll be tidying up or unloading my bag when the whole house seems to turn orange. Starting with the kitchen, the light floods the single hallway, turning the wood floor a delicious auburn color; the white walls reflect the light all the way throughout the house; it’s like my house just caught fire.
When that happens I usually, nonchalantly, walk out my front door and take a peek. Depending on how good the light and cloud cover looks, I’ll either 1). quietly close the door and resume my work or 2) haul ass with my tripod and my camera and a lens or two and drive out to one of two spots – Gokatsura Lake to the west or Tamaru Castle to the east.
Because the position of the sun isn’t quite there yet at Gokatsura (best from around September to March), last week I headed out to Tamaru Castle to hopefully get a good view from atop the ruins.
Was definitely NOT disappointed! Chasing light is always hit or miss – but when it’s a hit it’s really, really good.
I managed to make it in time to catch the sun setting behind the mountains
This - Is - Mie. Blue skies and orange sunsets, green fields, and white clouds, a heaven of color and a feast for the eyes. EVERY DAY!
If you know me you know I like my colors bold and my shadows jet black. I deliberately used the photo style "Clear" because it amps up the contrast and saturation.
This is a shot I really like. Sometimes with such a brilliant sunset you're tempted to put the sun in every picture. But if you try something out of the ordinary you might end up with a nice picture π Here I like the mix of light colors with the clouds and the shadows of the mountains fading into the distance. The fields below give a nice sense of place.
I like this tele shot because you can still partly see the city at the base of the mountain.
Again, I used "Clear" to ramp up the blacks and the reds; the mountains are practically flaming now! Add in the "god beams" and the pictures just shines.
Here's the final image of the night, and tellingly it's the strongest image as well. The way the orange fades quietly into light, then the darker and darker blue of twilight is pretty stunning. Fitting the half (quarter?) moon into the picture was tougher than expected but really lends a nice air to the composition. A shutter of 1.3 seconds gives a little bit of red and white streaking from the cars below.
You can see a vertical shot of moonrise here.
Hope you enjoyed this! My last sunset of the area, probably. I move out in t-minus 3 days. After that it’s up to Suzuka for two weeks with Kanako. I might head out on a road trip during that time, or hit up the zoo in Nagoya so stay tuned for more posts π Thanks for reading!
Brian Chu Photography 
Man, you never cease to amaze! Glad to see that you’re giving the 7D some love for landscapes once in awhile =P It must be great to have a car to just head anywhere you like whenever you like… I’m gonna enjoy that once I get home to Michigan, though I have a feeling that your epic national parks are gonna trump me every time. γγΌγγ¬γΌγγ§εθ² γγγγγͺγγͺοΌ
Yeah man you certainly have the drinking and partying scene covered π And the cityscapes – not much of that around here for me. I’ll be trading in the fields for the bright lights though so we’ll see how my withdrawal syndrome goes. I might have to hit up those national parks sooner than I expect π
Can’t believe we’ve only hung out twice, feel like I’ve known you for way longer than that. Keep up the blog man, one of the few lifelines I’ll have back to Japan for sometime hehe.
Oh I also might go back to shooting jpgs π That last shot of the moonrise was jpg, basically as shot with a bit of rotation to correct sloppy hand holding. Like shooting film right? haha!