While trekking through the countryside in Japan, I came across a row of red-hooded Jizo statues in a small, unknown temple. Known to protect children from harm, I photographed the profile of the Jizos and it seemed to smile at the camera.

Walking on a trail in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, I encountered the dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people, built around 600-1300 AD. There were several other well-preserved dwellings, but the late afternoon light shining down on this particular dwelling was like a treasure waiting to be discovered.

On Iri-Omote Island, south of mainland Honshu in Japan, the Sagari flower which blooms at night and wilts in the morning from the months of June through August, is scattered over the ground. Although fallen I was impressed by its beauty and I used the built-in flash to photograph the scene.

The Taos Pueblo community built by the Pueblo tribe over 1000 years ago in Taos, New Mexico. The church was a beautiful building, but judging the balance between the adobe village, only its shadow was captured.

Shrines can be found everywhere in Japan. They could have a forest surrounding the shrine and many of them have ponds. It’s also a place where children use as their playground. When the built-in flash was used, the red lettering on the Torii appeared.

People come searching for pure clean water around Mount Shasta in California. I met a Native American man who performed rituals to show gratitude for the source of the holy water. Sunlight poured onto his whistle and accessory around his neck. The image sensor painstakingly captured the clear ambiance.

Visiting one of the largest shrines in Kyushu in Japan, there was a large rope hanging from the Torii. The rope is meant to represent the sacred boundary to harbor the Holy Spirit, to cleanse the impurities and to prevent the invasion of evil. Casually photographing the scene with the compact digital camera, the texture and existence of the straw rope was captured.

The waterfall gushes vigorously at Kings Canyon in California. Slow shutters are often used to illustrate the flow of water, but in this case a faster shutter was used. When changed to monochrome the photograph transformed into a more dramatic scene.

Sunrise at the largest glacial lake, Maligne Lake in the Canadian Rockies. Pointing the camera at the sunrise, the camera sensor captured the clear morning air.

Fireworks go up over the pier at Manhattan Beach in California during the Christmas season. Setting the compact digital camera on a tripod, a slow shutter speed was used to capture the fireworks.

Basketball Goal

In a children’s basketball court of an elementary school, a boy played basketball in the afternoon. To take a photograph of the low basketball hoop from the bottom, I knelt to the ground and pointed the camera to the basketball hoop. It was troublesome to move from kneeling on the ground. Regulating the moderate focus distance with the wide-angle lens zoom, I made the shutter speed slow and was able to capture the movement of the basketball well. The child-size basketball hoop did not have a net, but the photograph came out that felt like the size was about the same as a basket goal for adults. Blue sky, white backboard, red ball, all which came out colorful.

Skateboard

The boy I knew played on his skateboard. I pointed the lens into the sun without minding the flare and ghost that entered in the late afternoon. I barely got into the shadow of the boy who jumped and took a photograph with the fisheye lens. Unpredictable lens flare and ghost, a long shadow of skateboarder on the crooked concrete ground, the fisheye lens caught a photograph beyond my imagination.

Rail Road Crossing Sign

The slope of the Mojave Desert in this neighborhood was a problematic area for steam locomotives in the old days. The horizon slanting toward the left makes it hard to hold a camera horizontally. I was able to take a photo in reference to railroad crossing sign, which should have stood vertically, but the level that the horizon inclines to the left, and the signature declines in the right, it seemed that the level was settled down to my eye. I photographed using the high zoom ratio lens (18-200mm) entirely on that day.

Christmas Pier

Every year, I photograph this pier where the Christmas lights are beautiful. I wanted to photograph the pier with a different approach this year. I focused a light near me on the pier with a fast lens of 50mm wide-open at f/1.4. The fast lens (F/1.4) created an attractive blur. A thing seen in the depths added to the blur beautifully little by little.

Sea Kayak

Just before the sunset of Southern California Coast, I found a man who took a kayak, and rowed into the distance from the beach. I loaded a large-diameter zoom lens with double TELE CONVERTER. I set the focal length at 600mm and I photographed it by holding the camera toward the backlight. The photograph came out to an incredibly sharp one without any flare and ghosting from the light of the sun.

Takachiho

There is a cave in the riverbank called Amano Yasu kawara in Miyazaki, Japan. A long time ago many of the great Gods gathered into this cave and discussed about the future of Japan’s peace. There is a legend that many Gods are enshrined in this cave. It felt disrespectful to come here only for the photography. I took a picture of the dark green forest over a Shinto shrine from the cave after praying to the Gods. The small modest DP1 having been my attendant, the Gods let me photograph comfortably. It was cloudy sky, but the FOVEON X3 direct image sensor captured the depth of the green well.

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory is the tourist attraction where tourists can get a whole view of Los Angeles. There were a lot of hiking trails around, and I stopped here in the middle of hiking. The evening sun projected the shadow of a woman who held a camera in Griffith Observatory. Having carried the compact digital camera on my shoulder, I did not miss the shadow of the woman.

Rainbow Over the Yellow Stone River

Outside the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park, there is a small town called Gardner. When I arrived at the cabin of this town, a beautiful rainbow appeared in the Yellowstone river. I took a photo of it with the compact DP1 quickly. Strong rain fell immediately, and the rainbow faded away afterwards. The landscape became a dramatic painting.

The Mask of the Character from Comics

On this day, there was a festival at night to celebrate the autumn good harvest in a small Japanese Shinto shrine. The late afternoon when the street vendor who sells food and toys completed their store opening preparations, the afternoon sun hit the comic character masks. Ropes that tied the wooden frames together that held up the masks seemed to have a real street vendor feel. Though my purpose was just to walk around, I think that I was able to take a good photograph.

The Waterfall Flows into the River

You must walk on train tracks for freight trains by the riverbank for approximately 30 minutes to watch this waterfall. It is hard to walk on the tracks where small stones are spread. When a freight train ran slowly, I went out of the track and waited for the train to pass. It is a beautiful waterfall, which is worth coming to many times even if it is a hard trip. The water oozes from the rocks and falls into the shallow river that is about one foot deep. There is a technique to express the flow of the waterfall with a slow shutter, but using a fast shutter speed resulted in scattered drops. As a result, I was able to express the mystique that a lot of drops of water fell into the shallow river. The small rainbow appeared, and deep green was caught beautifully. I was able to express a sacred place of pure water.