Fallen blossoms

The Sakura season is almost over, here in Kansai. Do not worry though. With all the photos I have taken lately, I still have a few Sakura-flavoured posts to prepare.

In the meantime, here is what it starts to look like. Still quite nice, if you ask me.

Sakura in the rain

As you know, I love cherry blossoms. As I was walking in Kyoto this morning (see my previous post), I had the opportunity to try a nice combination: Sakura and rain.

I absolutely love the result!
What do you think?

Candle Harmony in Osaka

A very nice event took place yesterday (December 9th) in Osaka, around Nishi-Umeda.
It was called Candle Harmony and, as you can guess from the name, it involved plenty of candles.

 

There was a very peaceful atmosphere, and the fact that this was taking place so close to busy Umeda made it completely surreal.

  

There was a fairly large crowd, but this did not feel overwhelming at all. Nothing like what I have heard about Kobe Lumarie.

 

This is apparently not the first year this event takes place. I warmly recommend you to keep an eye for it if you are in Osaka next December.

Showing your colours

Playing with partial black and white is growing on me.
I think it works particularly well when colours have a powerful meaning in the picture.

This is obviously true, for instance, on Saint Patrick's Day in Ireland.

It works quite well for their Celtic neighbours, too.

In case you are wondering, the Paddy's day picture dates back to 2007, while the bagpipe players were a feature of this year's Kansai Highlands Games.

First attempt at partial Black and White

Very short post today...
I just gave partial black and white a quick try, and am in need of some feedback.

What do you think?
Is it something worth trying on some other pictures?

For those wondering, the original picture was taken back in July, during this game.

Some more autumn colours

I hope you are not getting tired of my autumn-themed posts. Winter is almost here, so I am trying to make the most of it while it lasts.

In case you missed my recent pictures, you are just a few clicks away from Minoh, Arashiyama, and Suita.

At this stage, I would also like to remind you of my special request for feedback on the last photo of my Minoh post. I have already received some comments (though not directly here), but the more I get (good or bad), the better it is.

The idea behind this picture was try something a little more "arty". The motivation for today's last picture is similar.
Do you enjoy this kind of efforts, or am I wasting my time here?

To have a novel angle on these beautiful autumn leaves, today's pictures also involve a special guest: water.
On a bright day, putting these subjects together creates a very enjoyable playground for the amateur photographer.

These pictures were taken last week (November 23rd) at Expo Park (万博記念公園).
I really love this park, (which already featured on this blog last year), and always have a good time there.

Winter will soon be here, and I am now hoping for some snow. The park would look great in white... It is of course very unlikely.
Today is December 3rd, and the temperature reached 19 degrees this afternoon!

Back to Minoh

I had the opportunity to go to Minoh (箕面) for the first time last year, and really felt that it deserved at least another visit.

As we now live quite close, there was no reason not to go again, and this finally took place last Saturday.

  

I am sure this park and its nice waterfall are enjoyable all year long, but in autumn, the trees are especially beautiful.

 

I tried something different with the picture below. I hope you will like it.
Feedback is always appreciated, but would be particularly welcome on this one.

As mentioned earlier, I also went to Expo Park, and "autumn-themed" posts will continue to appear.