It's spring in Japan, which means the cherry blossoms, that famous symbol of the country, are out in full force. Here and gone in just a week or two, their evanescent nature has been seen as a reminder of the fleeting beauty of life, and the samurai spirit of living gloriously and dying even more gloriously.

So here, if anyone's interested, are a few photos of the beautiful sakura of Japan, made even more beautiful reflected in the paint of a classic Jaguar....




(In front of the local shrine)




There are quite a number of cherry cultivars. The most common is the Somei-Yoshino, but my personal favourite is the Weeping Cherry, seen here to great reflect....




Okay, no cherries, but I liked the tiles on this huge wall (longhouse) that once protected the mother of the local lord.


Sometimes black and white is the most effective. Even for a colour as nice as Kingfisher Blue....


Two European noses....


Distant mountains


Bird on pond on hill in late afternoon.


Near sunset....


Overlooking the city


The Sea of Japan glowing golden in the sunset.

 

Fabulous display by Mother Nature. And great photography. Very pleasing, thanks


On a much smaller scale here, I offer mere words.


1. My dear departed Wifey's pride blossomed. A Lilac bush. One of the local ladies walking here dog asked for permission to snip off a few blooms. Granted.


2. My Hawthorne tree is in multiple distress. Drought and wind storm !! Downed live and dead branches. Valiantly trying to display it's classic red berries.


More lumber jack work to do. A bit yesterday to get use of the green recycle can. Rain today means no out side work.


Carl

 

Beautiful pictures (as always)

What lens did you use to shoot the black and white ones with?

Thanks,
Paul

 

All these pics were actually taken with my worst lens, the Tamron 16-300 mm. It's soft, grainy, has dreadful chromatic aberration, and isn't that fast, but you can't beat the versatility of that zoom range. Naturally, the raw files have been processed a bit... or a lot....

 

That's very sweet. Come to think of it, I wouldn't know a lilac from a kayak. My knowledge of botany is practically zilch.

 

Thanks.


Mine is little better, if at all !!!


For decades, I ignored a nice tree in my front "pasture". I thought it a Bay.
Naah, my nice neighbor lady just retired as the Parks Director for a neighboring city.
My Bay is not a Bay. It is a Hawthorne !!


As of our drought and recent storms, it is in distress. Work to be done !


Along with so much more.


Oh, me, if I could subtract 10 years from my age.... The age curve is far from straight line.....


Carl

 

This picture is XJS ****!



Just shows how a beautiful car can look in such a traditional photography style... I've got to get my **** moving and get my old gal finished. Just to take her out to some fancy places!

 

Beautiful photos, you're a great photographer. Alas, no blossoms here, it snowed this morning. The tulips have just started poking up though.

 

I'd wanted to take a photo like that for ages. With her against that huge old wall (building), isolated. When it came time for processing, colour wasn't doing it for me, so I tweaked a B&W filter to bring out the contrasting tiles and the car's lines, then did some parallels corrections, as I hadn't quite nailed the angle dead on (you're not really supposed to park there, so I literally just pulled over, jumped out and snapped off a couple of shots, and jumped back in in the space of less than a minute. Okay, I didn't literally jump...).

 

Snow? Yikes. Today's forecast is 20 degrees and sunny. Yours, apparently, is 3 degrees....

 

Awesome display of a beautiful car in a beautiful country.
Do this more!

 

Thanks! Now that the weather's warming, I'll definitely be doing more!

 

Beautiful photos there. I love the lines of the XJS, it is so unique and just gorgeous.

 

Stunning photos!!! Thanks for sharing

 

I've been in love with those lines since I was in high school. Took thirty years, but they're now mine....

 

Hi Someday

Do you use a Tripod/Monopod to get those Shots with a Telephoto, or just use a very fast Speed?

 

It's all hand-held, OB. It was a sunny day, so speeds could be fast anyway, and modern lenses have pretty decent stabilization in them too. As an example, this shot was hand-held at quarter of a second - check out the water blurring.

 

Some Beautiful pictures you posted, love how you caught the reflections on the car. great work

 

Hi Someday

That Shot is Magazine Worthy!

What an Amazing Pic!

Was it done with a Telephoto?

What would be good would be a Slow Speed Blurred Shot of 'Lady Mary' on the move, looking like She's going at 100 MPH.

 

I'd never get a shot like that with a telephoto! Not a chance. This was with my Sigma 8-16 UWA, taken at 16 mm. The wider the lens, the more leeway you have for shaking.
But I agree, a nice blurred shot of Lady Mary would be nice. Or rather, her sharp and the background blurred.