Japanese Toriis
While in Japan, we went to the temple of the Thousand Toriis
It was breath taking…in more ways than one. Both in its beauty, and in that you had to climb hundreds of steps to walk through the whole thing. There I was, in my skirt and tennis shoes, panting embarrassingly loud, while all these Japanese girls in skinny jeans and STALETTO heels raced right by me without a problem. Yeesh. That made me feel great. =)
More from Japan
Just thought I would share a few more of my memories from our Japan trip.
Japan
Thinking about Japan these days.
L and I went there a couple of years ago for a short one week vacation (it was all he could get off at one time during residency), and we completely fell in love…not just with the country, but also with the people…and the food =) Not only is everything beautiful with rich history and culture, but the people are so kind, generous and socially responsible. We couldn’t get over the fact that everyone we saw/met took utmost pride in doing their job to the best of their ability – whether it was the trash collector or the waiter. We could learn a lot of from them.
Just thinking about all of those memories these days in the wake of the tsunami. Wondering what the best way is for us to lend a hand.
These pictures are of mature and young bamboo shoots. Some of my favorites.
The forgiveness of black and white
Black and white pictures really let you focus on the emotion of a picture. Either on someone’s face, or in their movements.
I find there are often pictures I take that I LOVE because of the feeling they give me – happiness, being carefree… but unfortunately, are often blurry. This may be because I was trying to capture a fast moving toddler or it was dark and I refused to use my flash…among other things.
I have found, that making these slightly blurry pictures black and white can not only save the picture, but let you really focus on the emotion that drew you to the image in the first place. Everything else kind of melts away and all you see or feel is that emotion.
So before you trash a blurry picture, try it in black and white – it may find new life!
If you don't try it, you won't get it
I took this image from the window of a moving bus on a very bumpy road in Tanzania, Africa. I saw this tree out the window and really wanted to capture it. So I quickly stuck the camera out the window, aimed, and shot. This was actually taken with my old Canon Rebel film camera – so I had NO idea if it even came out until I got all 12 rolls of film developed (I do NOT miss the days of having to ration the number of pictures I take!).
The point however, is that I got lucky, and happened to aim at the right spot at the right time. So the tree is in focus while everything else has the motion from the bus. I love the feel it gives of peace amidst chaos.
Take home point? If I would have hesitated for even a second to wonder if the picture would have turned out before actually trying to take it, I would have missed the shot! So it is better to at least TRY and see if you get lucky! Especially in the world of digital photography when you don’t have to worry about having enough pictures left (at least not as much…you still have to have plenty of flash cards on you though =)
Have fun!
Get dirty
Today’s photographs are reminders to try approaching your photographs from a different perspective. Sometimes, that means getting dirty. I know it sounds a little cliche – people are always talking about finding a “new” way to photograph the same scene. Sometimes it is not that easy – especially when you are in a national park and have limited options for where you are allowed to go. But if it was easy, then everyone would have that picture, right? Sometimes you have to get your feet (and knees, and hands and butt for that matter) dirty to find a different shot.
The above picture was simple – I just laid down on the ground. These tulips were actually only about 10 inches tall, but laying down on the ground makes them see taller than life.
These next few images might be the best examples of perspective. When we went to Yellowstone, we kept seeing pictures everywhere of Grand Prismatic spring and all of its rainbow of colors. Well, we get there, and the BELOW image is what we see. Where were the colors??? All I could see was orange and smoke. Granted, it was still beautiful, but I had my heart set on seeing the grand picture that I had been enticed with. The spring was actually hidden behind all the smoke because it’s water was boiling hot and the air outside was cold. So….we drove to that hill you see in the background of the shot, and climbed. Not sure if we were “allowed” to, but we did.
And this is what we saw! Looking back at these shots, I am sad that I didn’t have a wide angle lens at the time, so I wasn’t able to get the whole spring in one shot..but at least I was able to get some of those amazing colors:
I can’t believe that if we didn’t hike up that hill, we would have missed this completely! You couldn’t see anything past the orange from the ground.
So today’s take home points?
Lay down
Turn around
Walk in the mud
Take a hike
Get dirty
Car and Crayon Roll
Radha’s new Crayon and Car Roll!
Whenever we go to dinner or out somewhere, I usually take some crayons and toy cars with us. However, I usually end up just dumping them in the diaper bag, and…losing them.
So I found this really cute tutorial for a car cozy on Handmade by Jill, and decided to make it with a car cozy on one side and crayon pockets on the other! All in all it took me about 2 hours to make, so not that bad.
I used canvas for the outside and for the car pockets, and then corduroy for the inside face and the crayon pockets. I also used a cute embroidery stitch to sew the hem along the top of the crayon pouch. For the crayon pockets, I sewed each seam 1 inch apart. However the whole width of the fabric is 17 inches…which is kind of alot of crayons and leads to alot of bulk when rolled. So you might want to do slightly larger pockets – like 1.25 or 1.5 inches – especially if you have some fun, fat crayons.
The one thing I would do differently is use a heavy dute strap and velcro forthe closure like Jill does in her tutorial. I didn’t have any on me, and of course, I was making this spur of the moment at 11:00 at night, so I used what i had: Ribbon.
It works, but it is not so sturdy.
I love the look of the piping – it was my first time using it! I might be addicted…
On a side note, I’m really excited because today I have a private sewing lesson! I have been making these projects by teaching myself, reading tutorials and watching you tube videos, but want to learn a little but more about the sewing basics. So I’m taking a 1 hour private lesson tomorrow – and will probably take more later. Wish me luck!
A little sexist??
I thought about this when I started this blog…but am revisiting the thought again: “All.Things.Mama” is somewhat sexist given that everything I am writing about is really applicable to moms and dads – and non parents for that matter.
So…
I am thinking about changing the blog name to All.Things.Subha.
Thoughts anyone? The things I write about are really a completely random collection of topics…unless you are me =) Because they are all things I am interested in, do or think about.
It would be a little bit of a pain to change, but I figure I’m only about a month and a half into the blog, so better to change it now rather than later.
Yes? No?
Excited for spring!
I am SOOOOOOOOO excited for spring!
Sun. Playing outside. Sun. Late sunsets. Sun. Warm weather. Pools parties. Sun.
Sun
Sun
Can you tell I’m tired of winter and excited for spring??
Lesson of the day
Today’s lesson of the day:
If you are considering purchasing high end audio equipment on a tight budget, do NOT accompany your spouse to the local high end audio store where the slick salesman (who, by the way has the coolest job ever…ok, after the cast of Glee that is) will quickly seduce your ears, and you, into thinking you need a component that is actually TWICE the price of the one you were originally planning to buy! Oh, and don’t forget the incredibly “reasonably” priced monstrous speakers you were listening to when comparing the audio components. Instead, one of you should stay in the dark while making these decisions so that you can be the voice of reason when your spouse wants to spend all of your saved up gift money on audio equipment. I’m just sayin.
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