This is the first Guest Photo Friday posting. I got this from my nephew Ryan, who does some amazing photography. The kid's got a really good eye for composition, and has this knack of taking pictures that will end up looking great when post-processed into black and white.
I took this on a sunny May day on the pier at Sausalito, CA. There was a street performer playing guitar on the peer, and this was his companion. He did tricks, ran around to people in the crowd, etc...obviously, he'd had a long hard day and needed a few winks. He looked so cute, I couldn't resist the tourist snapshot.
Shibuya Crossing, Shibuya, Tokyo
I took this in the courtyard of a small temple in the Shinagawa neighborhood of Tokyo. The paper is called "osame fuda", or prayer paper. Pilgrims to a shrine write their prayers, wishes, and hopes on these slips of paper then tie them to branches of a tree. They are symbolically "leaving behind" their prayers, cares, and worries.
I took this in the inner courtyard of Meiji Jingu (Meiji Shrine) in the center of Tokyo. It being a weekend, lots of people--from little kids up to senior citizens--came dressed in traditional Japanese clothes. This couple was having their wedding photos shot here, and later they were in a larger shot with both sides of the family--probably 20 people in all. Japanese wedding customs have largely gone by the wayside, in favor of more "Western-style" weddings. However, on this day, several couples who stuck with a traditional ceremony were there to have their pictures taken.
This statue is of Asano Naganori, who was arguably the most famous daimyo of feudal Japan. He was ordered to commit ritual suicide, ostensibly because of an offense to the Shogun. His followers became ronin--leaderless samurai--and avenged his death a year later. They were, in turn, also ordered to commit ritual suicide. This story of honor and loyalty is remembered to this day as the tale of the Forty-Seven Ronin.
This shot is the Vegas Strip looking north toward Treasure Island and the Mirage. Las Vegas is a city that's in motion literally 24 hours a day, and it's known more for its nightlife than its daytime activities. I took several of these long-exposure shots--this one was about half a second. I thought it captured the sense of motion and activity pretty well.
This is a nighttime shot of the Fountains of Bellagio at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Amazingly, it was only about 5:30PM when I took this...but since it's right after the switch back to Standard Time, it gets dark pretty early.
I'm in Las Vegas right now and headed out this afternoon to shoot some of the casinos. I ran across this young man on the pedestrian bridge between the Tropicana Hotel and the MGM Grand. His sign reads "Sick, Homeless, and Hungry!!! Any help is very appreciated. Thank you and God Bless."
This shot is close-in detail of the Door of the Judgement which is on the west facade of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Since most people were illiterate at the time when Notre Dame was built, the builders told Biblical stories in the artwork and sculptures.
