Snow day
Comments: 24
Updated: larger versions available. Click the photos for a closer view.
We had a good dusting of snow in Tokyo last night and it continued snowing throughout the day. Wonderful!
Despite the fact that I was nursing a category 5 hangover after a terrific party last night, I caught the train over to Marunouchi and took a walk around the parks and forecourts in front of the Imperial Palace. By the time I got over there it was snowing quite heavily and I pretty much had the place to myself.
I became a bit disoriented at one point because visibility had dropped to where I could no longer see the buildings of Marunouchi. That was a rare treat — to have half a dozen heavily developed city blocks simply removed from the landscape, hiddden behind snow.
Ducks on the outer moat of the palace. I could have used some down and feathers myself. By the time I got home I was pretty wet.
These streetlamps cast the most beautiful light over the snow. I tried to take some pictures of the shadows of trees but it was getting dark, exposures were getting longer, and I was shivering just a little too much.
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Posted to Photographs • 2006.01.21 (Sat) • 23:03
Comments
Posted by Mark 2006.01.21, 23:39
Fantastic pictures! More, more! :)
Posted by brian w 2006.01.22, 00:27
Lovely shots! Any chance we could get some higher-res versions for desktop use?
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens 2006.01.22, 02:45
Magical.
Posted by Andrew Hamann 2006.01.22, 04:29
Those are some of the most breathtaking winter shots I have ever seen. Love the footprints in the second one. Bloody brilliant.
Posted by Emme 2006.01.22, 05:16
So picturesque!
Posted by Kristen 2006.01.22, 07:42
Tokyo is wonderful in the snow. While you were out capturing it, I built a snowman then shivered my way home to brew dark chocolate cocoa.
I love your ducks. They nearly form up into a phi spiral.
Posted by Gary Santoro 2006.01.22, 08:09
So great! Thank you for sharing these.
Posted by Richard 2006.01.22, 11:38
Beautiful images, really well done. I’d love to see them at a larger scale.
Posted by jh 2006.01.22, 16:02
Glad you like these. I’ve uploaded some larger views (although probably not desktop size, sorry).
P.S. Three cheers for the “Smart Sharpen” filter in Photoshop CS!
Posted by michael 2006.01.22, 16:56
simply amazing. gorgeous photographs, and im officially jealous of your wonderful snow.
Posted by Lil 2006.01.22, 18:52
Bravo, Jeremy! This is some of the best work I’ve seen from you. I’m glad you braved the cold to go over to Marunouchi to capture these…makes me wish I had done the same.
Posted by xen ix 2006.01.22, 19:48
Wow. Really nice pictures. Wish I were in Tokyo now.
Posted by Charles M. Gerungan 2006.01.23, 07:45
Beautiful. The top one is now my desktop picture. I wish you also had a landscape version of the picture with the umbrella.
Posted by Erra 2006.01.23, 07:47
Wow. Me too. Although those lamps and benches look eerily like Central Park too….
Posted by Durf 2006.01.23, 10:49
We got about 20 cm out west of the city center, in Koganei … A wonderful day for a walk. I should have grabbed my X-C gear and headed down to Nogawa Park, though.
Posted by Shay 2006.01.23, 11:40
Great photos and each really illustrates the craziness that is super-snowy Japan. :)
Posted by Daphne 2006.01.23, 12:10
You are such a talented photographer!
Do you have a book of your photographs?
Posted by Atilla 2006.01.23, 12:31
Great shots, what sort of equipment do you use ?
Posted by jh 2006.01.23, 12:59
These were taken with a Nikon D1X and a 28-70 mm AF-S f2.8 lens. ISO was 250 and the aperture was f4 giving exposures of 1/60 to 1/40 as the light faded.
I debated whether to take my tripod but ended up leaving it at home, which was dumb because I could have kept shooting longer. Exposures were up to half a second and longer by the time I decided to call it quits, and you can’t keep still at those times when you’re warm let alone when you’re cold and shivering.
Posted by jh 2006.01.23, 13:01
Oh, and Daphne, thanks for the compliment. No book, I’m afraid, but I’ve been thinking about how to get some prints together that I could make available.
Guess the first step would be getting a printer. ;-)
Posted by Jolyon 2006.01.23, 23:25
Last one reminds me a little of the well-known one by Werner Bischof of the monks going past the Meiji (I think?) temple in the snow. You’ll know it, I’m sure.
Lovely shots, and esp commendable given enormity of hangover.
Posted by jh 2006.01.23, 23:43
The Bischof picture is a favourite — I’m absolutely thrilled if you see even the tiniest resemblence. His is called Shinto priests in the court of the Meiji Temple and it was taken in 1951.
Posted by David Kaspar 2006.01.26, 19:29
Gorgeous photos… welcome back in big style. You have captured the snowy mood in a way I can only dream of here in 1C London.
Shame you did not bring your tripod ;-)
David
Posted by Dennis Grinceri 2006.02.24, 10:20
Hi Jeremy, long time no see. They had to dig their cars out every morning when it snowed in Fukui! Im visiting H at the mo. Nice stuff!
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