Tag Archives: fountain

Tranquil Park Space in a Busy City

Cities are bustling places but old cities tend to have an advantage over newer ones and that is decent park spaces.  When modern cities develop, all the land is valuable and there is a problem with preserving space.  Older cities dealt with the preservation of space a long time ago and Tokyo is no exception.  I got off the train at Shibuya and was walking up to Shinjuku.  I went past some of the buildings from the ’64 Olympics and in to Yoyogi Park.  On a Sunday morning, it was a really pleasant place to be.

In common with most of my trip, even first thing in the morning it was very hot and humid.  Being close to the ponds and fountains provided a bit of relief although only a bit.  Walking through the trees at least kept me out of the sun and that was a welcome break from the warmth.  There were trails around the park that were getting plenty of use, some of the open spaces were being used for exercises by groups and individuals and some people were just sleeping.

I had hoped to walk all the way through the park up to Shinjuku but the area where the National Olympic Youth Center and the Meiji Jingu Shrine were meant the top area was blocked off the way I went so I had to divert out on to the street to continue my trek.

The Sun is Out – Time to Jump in the Fountain

It doesn’t matter whether a sunny day is a hot day or not.  Get a bunch of kids somewhere near a fountain and they will be running through it in a heartbeat.  When the air temperature is not that high, I guess the water temperature is probably not going to be much different.  That doesn’t matter though.  I think when you are a kid, you don’t care about stuff like that so much.  Instead, you run through the water and have fun!

Chicago at Night

It has been a while since I last went out and did some night photography around Chicago.  I had been meaning for a while to go and photograph the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park at night when they have the light and music show.  This was supposed to be a relatively quick trip out but ended up being a rather longer expedition.

Chicago at night is a great place to photograph.  It is fine to walk around at night and there are usually a bunch of people out and about.  However, do you do get a feeling that the city is yours and that you aren’t sharing it with the tourist masses.  The night lighting is also a lot more generous to sights that look less impressive during the day.  The dark hides a lot of the blemishes!

The show at the fountain takes place every hour on the hour.  I got down at 8pm which was just after sundown.  This wasn’t such a good plan as, even at the end of the 20 minute display, it really wasn’t dark enough to get the benefit of the lights.  I figured I would try again another time but ended up taking enough shots of details around the fountain that soon it was sufficiently close to the hour again that there was no point in leaving.  The 9pm show was certainly more photogenic – even if I had to take a few angles that concealed some of the construction sites on the skyline.

With some shots in the bag, I headed back in the direction of home.  however, along the way were plenty of things to shoot as well.  The Art Institute, the Pritzker Pavilion and the bean were all there along with the goings on of Millennium Park.  It ended up being pretty late by the time I finally headed home.  I have now whetted my appetite for some more night shooting so hopefully it won’t be too long before I am back out.