This is one of the guard houses, or lookouts in the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo.  The accessible areas of the Imperial Gardens aren’t really that spectacular in the winter, but this was one view that seemed to be worthy of a snapshot.

Lighting was a bit tricky on this one, as the sun was just out of frame to the right.  A little localized reduction in exposure and a little post-crop vignetting was done to tame the sun and bright sky.

This shot of Mount Fuji and the skyscrapers of Shinjuku is one of my favourites from my trip to Japan.  Before my trip, I had made a list of quintessential photographs to take while in Japan, and Mt. Fuji with the city in front of it was at the top of my list.  After a fair bit of internet research, I managed to find a “top secret” location in a public building to get this shot.  I was surprised when I eventually got there to find a handful of other photographers with the same shot in mind.  Obviously my secret location was well known.  :)

Those familiar with Tokyo will undoubtedly know that such views of Mt. Fuji are quite rare.  In fact, even on a clear sunny day the chances of being able to see the distant mountains and Mt. Fuji are slim to none due to the typical heavy layer of smog covering the city.  I somehow lucked out on this occasion, as a weather system had rolled in over night.  It was quite windy the night before this shot, which I suspect helped clear out the smog.

I will admit, that when I made my way onto the observation gallery and saw this spectacular view I got quite excited.  This was exactly the view I had pictured in my mind.  Unfortunately, in the rush of it all, plus the lack of coffee (I’m a mess without it) I forgot to switch the ISO on the camera back to 100.  I had been shooting night scenes the night before.  Sadly, all of the shots I took of this view were made at ISO 800 on my Canon 20d, which is quite a shame.  This actually ruined my day when I realized my mistake about an hour after I left the gallery (and by then the smog would have hidden the mountains).  I highly doubt I will ever get this shot again, so this is one of life’s hard lessons I learned.

Nighttime in Tokyo is just as busy as any other time in this city.  The city never sleeps, and if anything, it feels even busier at night with all the bright flashing lights from traffic, billboards, and other advertisements.  Like a moth to a flame, your eyes are drawn into the bright lights.

I took this shot while walking back to my hotel after a long day of sightseeing.  Leaving the Shinjuku train station there is a pedestrian overpass that takes you to a plaza filled with Christmas lights (this was taken in December).  This is the view from that overpass.  The towers in the distant background are the Tokyo’s government buildings (aka city hall).  They’re the tallest buildings in the metropolis, though you can barely make them out in the dark night sky.

The shot was taken hand-held, probably resting on a railing, I can’t remember exactly.

My hotel was located in Shinjuku, one of Tokyo’s more livelier prefectures, and was about 4 blocks away from this shopping area.  The area consists of about 3 blocks of brightly lit stores that are actually just one store: the Yodobashi camera store.  I can’t remember what happened when I realized this, as my brain had gone into overload thinking about all the camera gear surrounding me.  I was in the Mecca of photographic technology.

The main Yodobashi store (pictured above) consists of about 8 stories of technology ranging from cameras, to laptop computers, to books, to rice cookers and home appliances.  The camera selection at this particular building was the mainstream point and shoot variety.  Down the street was a more professional camera store that carried SLRs, medium format, lighting, developing, etc.  Basically a mini B&H Photo, but in Japan.

As for prices, they were very similar to those of B&H Photo in New York.  I probably could have saved $150 on a Canon 7D bought in Japan, but everything would have been in Japanese, including the warranty so I decided not to bother.

As for this photo, it was shot hand-held in manual mode.  It was difficult finding a good exposure that balanced the neon signs and the ambient light on the street, but I think I got it.  I think the Japanese couple walking in front of me adds a bit of character as well.

Tokyo is famous for “scramble” intersections, where all directions of traffic stop and allow pedestrians to cross any way they wish. It is quite a sight to see. We have a couple of scramble intersections in Toronto, but they pale in comparison to the sheer volume of people in Tokyo.

Most major intersections in Tokyo are of the scramble variety, which is quite convenient if you’re a pedestrian. The one pictured above was not very busy in comparison to others, such as Shibuya crossing. Only a hundred or so people were crossing at each cycle here. In Shibuya, there are likely thousands crossing at every cycle. Absolutely amazing.

One detail you can’t see from this image is a police stand/lookout on the adjacent corner. Each cycle, a police officer would blow a whistle prior to the signals changing. This is essentially a warning to those still crossing to hurry up before the signals change and the traffic begins. In a city so technologically advanced, with automated machines everywhere, they still rely on officers to blow the whistle every few minutes. Weird.

I shot this photo hand-held, which isn’t too tricky with an ultra-wide angle lens. I probably annoyed a few locals by standing still on the corner when the signals changed, and everyone expected me to start crossing. I think my 6’2″ stature and pale white complexion was a clear indication that I was a tourist. That and my camera strapped around my neck.

Tokyo is a very old and historic city. Scenes like this are not uncommon in this city. Here, one of the Imperial Palace’s guard houses sits in contrast with the modern city’s skyscrapers. Traditional rule by the monarchy versus today’s importance of the economy and capitalization.

Due to the Allied bombing in World War II, much of the city has been rebuilt in the last 50-60 years. This makes Tokyo a fantasticly modern city, but at the expense of its historic roots, even despite the preserved temples and gardens that tourists tend to flock to.

The Tokyo International Forum is a unique building in Tokyo that houses conference rooms, concert halls and exhibitions. The building’s cavernous atrium is highlighted by the interesting steel structure at the top, a wall of windows on one side, and a wooden wall on the other.

The building is truly huge. Standing at the bottom, one is impressed at the height and size of the place, as well as the open feeling it provides. Standing on the steel and glass catwalk that ramps its way to the very top of the building, it’s hard not to feel a bit (or a lot) of vertigo. Railings are made of glass, and there is nothing between you and the floor. I’ll confess that I didn’t actually make it to the very top. Hanging over the side of the railing to get the perfect shot (coming in a future post) left me feeling a little wishful for terra firma.

Such an ornate structure to hold a bell… The locals sit in the parking lot and sell souvenirs and local produce to the tourists.

One of the major temples in the Gyeongju region is Seokguram where a large statue of Buddha is carved from a single piece of stone. Photography is prohibited inside the temple, but the intricate roof details shown here were quite interesting.  I just love all the colour they put into everything!  The attention to detail is incredible and I can only imagine how much effort they must have put in to construct these temples, and even modern structures.

This ancient Korean observatory is apparently the oldest in Eastern Asia. I’m not entirely sure why they needed to build a massive stone structure to sit approximately ten to fifteen feet off the ground (couldn’t they make a treehouse of sorts and save a lot of effort?) but they did.

Since it is now autumn, I thought this photo was somewhat appropriate. It’s the roof of an auditorium at MIT, in Boston. It has a striking resemblance to a leaf (it’s even green in colour). Not sure if it’s the architect’s intent, but I think it’s fairly eye catching.

A giant Coca Cola sign above the grandstand in Fenway Park, Boston.

A look up through the stairwell of the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, MA.

The old lifesaving station at the tip of Cape Cod, MA.

As seen from the 54th floor of the TD Centre, the First Canadian Place tower (home to the Bank of Montreal) is Toronto’s tallest.

The white tiles are made of marble and are slowly being replaced as required. One tile fell 60 floors back in 2007 which prompted road closures and periodic investigations. The darker ones are older and the whiter ones are newer, which makes the building look a little worse for wear.

Went to the TD Centre in downtown Toronto this weekend to tour the 54th floor as part of the Doors Open Toronto event. More to come from the 54th floor, but this shot was taken at the ground level plaza, in between the tall towers that make the centre.

On my way out the door to catch an early flight, I noticed the sun rising over the city. The sky was a brilliant orange-red colour and I just had to capture it. Screw the waiting taxi, I thought. And I grabbed my camera.

Just as luck would have it, a flock of birds flew across the scene, adding some life to the image. I’m really happy with this one!

This image is unaltered, except for being cropped. It was shot through my living room window, in manual mode (which is rare for me to use, but was a lesson learned from my shots of the sun rising over Uluru in Australia). I basically set the aperture and adjusted the metering until the results met my liking. My lesson learned from this shot: I should have used a better lens, like my 70-200L. Oh well, next time…

This is a panorama of Irving Oil’s Saint John Refinery located in Saint John, New Brunswick.  This is Canada’s largest oil refinery according to Irving.  The refinery is truly massive and took 6 images to capture this image.

The six images were shot hand-held and were stitched together in photoshop using automatic adjustments.  The resulting panorama was converted to grayscale in Lightroom and slight toning adjustments were made for contrast.

The image above is shown using Microsoft’s Seadragon technology. Scroll and pan inside the image to reveal more detail. You can see my images here

I took a walk around uptown Saint John New Brunswick today, as the sun peaked out of the clouds for a brief few moments.  I’ve been here for a couple of weeks on business, but this was the first time I’ve had a chance to take any photos of my surroundings.  I’m here for another 2-3 months, so there will be more to come.  I’m hoping to get out and see more of my home province and the Maritimes and the great scenery it has to offer.

I don’t do a lot of selective colouring, but I felt that this image needed some spice.  Let me know what you think.

P.S. That is a huge snow bank in front of the church.  This city has had a huge amount of snow this winter!
P.P.S. The title has been changed from “St Andrew & St David Church” to the proper name of “Trinity Anglican Church”

The Chrysler Building in New York City as seen from the observation deck on the Empire State Building (taken back in June 2008).  I was playing around with split toning and thought this gave the image a nice warm and historic tone.

The image is actually a panorama made from three shots of the building and stitched using Photoshop CS4 (which does a lovely job if I might add).  Although this blog won’t do it justice, the level of detail in the image is superb, and I’m definitely going to be shooting more panoramas in the future.

Edit: I’ve embedded Microsoft’s Seadragon viewer so you can click and scroll inside the image to see more detail.