Thirsty Thursday: New Year on Mt Mitake

Rambler: Beth

Drink at Hand: Prairie Berry Winery Sand Creek American Red Wine

Happy New Year Welliver Photography fans! Thirsty Thursday here again. Time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. Since this is the first Thursday of the year, and seeing how this whole "Throwback Thursday" thing is getting to be pretty popular, I figured I'd throw it back to New Years 2007 for tonight's post. 

New Years 2007 was our last New Year in Japan. We'd gone to a Japanese temple either at midnight or on New Years day each year. However, seeing the first sunrise of the year is a big deal in Japan, so for our final New Years we decided to go to hike up Mitake-san (Mt Mitake) and watch the sunrise from the temple located at the top of the 3,048' peak. 

While there is a cog rail that goes up the mountain, we decided, in true Welliver Photography fashion, to hike to the top in the dark. After all, it was New Years and the Japanese love their New Years sunrise celebrations...therefore, the cog rail was packed. The effort was worth it. 

Though as you can see, it was insanely crowded. And no, that is not Terry hold that camera up...he actually took the photo above and below. 

After watching the sunrise, visitors at the shrine get their fortune, or O-mikuji, for the year. It is customary to tie to the fortune to a nearby wire or branch after reading the fortune.

The wires get pretty full on New Years at any shrine. 

The fascinating thing about visiting shrines on New Years is despite the throng of people, its a quiet, peaceful experience. You leave feeling happy, content, and hopeful for the coming year. 

Some big changes coming to Welliver Photography this year. Its always nice to reflect on where we've been and what's gotten us to where we are as we move forward into the next year. We plan to make a year filled with adventures, and hopefully, some cool photos doing cool stuff in cool places. One thing is for sure, we only spent one night out in a tent last year and we plan to do much better than that this year! Time to start making the New Years worth of weekend plans! And then get out there and do something awesome!

Happy New Year! 

Thirsty Thursday: Tokyo's Ginkgo Avenue

Rambler: Beth Drink at Hand: Yogi Breath Easy Tea...good for allergies

Its time for another Thirsty Thursday! Time to pour something yummy and think about the upcoming weekend. In most parts of the country autumn is in full effect. Trees are turning beautiful shades of crimson and gold, and the after sunlight is so golden and warming. Fall is my favorite time of year. Unfortunately we don't get much fall color here on the central coast, and what we do get doesn't normally pop up until late November. So I have to live vicariously through some autumn photo shoots in the archives.

Autumn in Japan can only be described with one word...AMAZING. The Japanese relish the fall "koyo" season. Flocks of people flood shrines and park creating a festival-like atmosphere beneath the brilliant red momiji (Japanese maple) and yellow icho (ginkgo) trees.

If you're lucky, you can sometimes find a usually busy Tokyo street deserted on a crisp weekday afternoon. And if you're really lucky, that street is lined with golden ginkgo trees, the official tree of Tokyo.

Streets like this in the middle of fall beg for a stroll or a slow bike ride. Ironically a bustling train station and busy shopping center at the heart of Tokyo are mere blocks away.

Yet if you just immerse yourself in the muffled quiet of falling leaves, the hustle and bustle of the real world seems worlds away.

And even if you can't take that stroll, you can keep that scene for later.

Hopefully you can find somewhere to go enjoy some wonderful fall colors this weekend, too! Whatever you do, get out there and enjoy it!

Thirsty Thursday: Hachioji Matsuri

Rambler: Beth Drink at Hand: Horizons Organic Chocolate Milk (love it after a bike ride!)

Another Thirsty Thursday here again...time to pour something yummy and make those weekend plans. This week we jump across Pacific to share a little Japanese festival fun!

Our West Coast readers have probably noticed a few signs or community advertisements for festivals in the nearby Japanese communities here in the US, so we decided to share our experience at the real deal in Japan. Summer time in Japan is full of festivals, and you can find a matsuri, or local festival, in small towns around Japan nearly every weekend during July and August. Just a few train stops from where we lived in Japan is a town called Hachioji. We usually went to Hachioji to hit up our favorite ramen and gyoza shop, but in late July they hosted the Hachioji Matsuri.

Early in the day, teams carry small shrines called mikoshi through the streets.

Then hundreds of women clad in kimonos and yukatas line up to do a tradition folk dance. Its more like a choreographed parade than a dance, but its beautiful to watch.  

There are old women...

And young girls...

And lots of paper lanterns...

Hope you have a great weekend!

Two Word Tuesday: Haijima Station

Haijima Station

Thirsty Thursday: A City Walk

Rambler: Terry Drink at Hand: 2009 Rail2Rail Old Vine Zinfandel

Old, old photos...okay, not that old, but back from 2006. So, no MFT, no EOS40D, and no real craft. Tonight, I intended to post some images of flowers or cherry blossoms or something 'springy' from the past. Unfortunately, none of the 'springy' images from back then really jumped out at me. I browsed through project after project in Aperture. Nothing seemed to inspire me to create a blog post. I finally stumbled across a project of images that I took with a Canon IXY 700 (PowerShot). Definitely not a high performance camera...back then these didn't even shoot raw. Nevertheless, the best camera that you can have is the one that you have with you.

Beth's job back then always had her working in downtown Tokyo at the New Sanno hotel. I always seemed to be able get away to visit her when she was working. During these visits, Beth would have to go to work and I'd go wandering about Tokyo. And when I say wandering, I really mean walking. No subways. No trains. No taxis. No buses. All walking. These images are from a trek starting at the New Sanno through Ebisu and Shibuya and finally ending in Shinjuku. Always a bit of fun for me. I sure wish I had a bit more craft back then. I wasn't able to capture everything I remember, but they're enough for me. I always enjoyed trying to capture the architectural lines of the buildings. And in the case of the last image, the great lengths that were taken to hide construction work in the city...a wall of leafy contact paper with a lock to keep everyone out!

And, by the way, I...(sorry Beth)...we can't wait to go back.