Photograph Japan

One month in Japan has come to an end. I’m grateful I got to see my best friend again after so long, and I’m grateful I got to explore Japan, the main ¨touristy¨ areas, alongside some less travelled places in Hokkaido. Coming to Japan I had the intention of photographing 5 very well-known, photographed places. I am happy with all but one, Mt Fuji. Nothing is ever perfect, but I can leave knowing I achieved the rest.

I want to say every photographer has a photography bucket list, I feel like I should write mine out. At the end of the day, depending on the genre of photography, we will all have roughly the same list. Top places to photograph in Japan:

I have been told that starbucks is a great view, but the lines are quite long there and you have to wait around a long time to be able to get a prime window seat. So after some research, I found Magnet by Shibuya109. I arrived just before sunset, the entrance fee is to buy a drink, be it alcohol or not. Once you’ve bought one drink, you can stay however long you want. There is an outdoor area, that’s where I set up my tripod, and there is also an indoor seating area with the view. The crowd was minimal.

Fushimi Inari-Taisha, one of the most photographed torii gates in Japan. Consisting of roughly 10000 gates in the area. I knew I wanted to get there early, beat the crowd. I also knew I wanted to get the lanterns whilst they were still lit. The public transport doesn’t start operating until gone sunrise, so I couldn’t get there during the dark and I feared that the lanterns would be off by the time I got there. I arrived around 6:15 and they were still on for a while, and only a handful of people walked by me.

I took the typical photograph, and I took a not so commonly seen photograph. I walked all the way to the top and by the time I got back down to the main shrine at 8:30am, it was heaving with people. Definitely get there as early as you can.

Itsukushima Jinja, is probably the most photographed torii gate in Japan, and I knew I wanted to capture it at sunset. So I went on a hike during the day and then waited for the sun to go down.

And finally, the ever so famous Bamboo Grove. It’s a short path, but it is beautiful in the early hours when hardly anyone is there. There is a park next to it with a view of the river and it’s very peaceful to just sit and read.

Home away from home

Social media