Saturday, December 24, 2011

Japan: Tokyo 11th - 15th


Intersection, Ikebukuro North.

Tokyo at night, looking north from the Ryokan.

My waypoint, Pasela Karaoke.

Kimi Ryokan's sunken entrance.

Tokyo from the Ryokan by day.

Outside Tokyo International Forum.

From a pedestrian bridge in Ginza.

Kurokawa's Nakagin Capsule Tower.

Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills.

The roof of Tokyo University's main gate.

Neo-Gothic through the trees.

Harajuku's famous Takeshita Street.

Prada Building's facade.

The bridge in the garden of Nezu Museum.

Japan 8th-10th


One Gotaiku-ji karesansui, dry rock garden.

One of Gotaiku-ji's dwarfing pagoda structures.

From Hosomi san's tea ceremony on the roof of the museum.

On the rooftop terrace of Kyoto Central.

Sayonara, Kyoto. From the shinkansen.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Japan 4th-7th

Riding rented bikes.
An intersection around northwestern Kyoto somewhere.
Nijo-jo's garden.
From the ramparts of Nijo-jo.
Much the same.
Fushimi Inari - at the start of the gates.
Having entered the tunnel.
Bridge upriver on the way to Byodo-in.
Garden path towards the monk's quarters.
Autumn leaves reflected in Ryoan-ji's lake.
Persimmon tree over the same lake.
The manicured lake and garden at Ginkaku-ji.
Looking west across Kyoto.
The karesansui and hillside of Ginkaku-ji.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I want to be a surprise. For now and a long time.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Outpost 14 November 2011

Had a late breakfast with the girls in Redfern and then to the city so I could get some thongs and change into shorts. It was really warming up. Cockatoo Island was next, off on the ferry across Sydney harbour, very tourist like. We were visiting to see Outpost, a street art collection with various collaborators and exhibits.
Banksy was supposed to be a pretty big part of it from what I'd understood, but as it goes I thought that Banksy's collection was fairly thin on the ground and very uninspiring, definitely in comparison to what was there in full size and had been painted "live" - all of Banksy's items were prints and only house painting size, whereas all of the other art was without fail massive and hand painted.

I found this stuff really inspiring. You (or I know I did) think of graffiti and street art as being really rough and uninspired, but the thing that struck me when viewing these close up was how crisp and well executed all of the paintwork was done.
It's a rough medium, but it's a smooth art.

Oh, and I really love bright colours, and this stuff provides.