For discerning appreciators of fine photography, this post’s picture is unlikely do it for you. It’s here because there’s a story to it. It’s the second in a series of two. The first was spoilt by none other than an earthquake. For any natives with a photo habit, this may have happened before but for me it was an unqualified first.
I was in Ueno and taking the long way home after some hard private tutoring. Three low-level cafe lessons back-to-back approximate brain death in adults around my age and so I needed time to clear my head. Just to the side of the station is the park. I could see lines of paper lanterns hanging from trees and despite having lost my tourist credentials a while back, their soft soothing glow proved an invitation strong enough to call me. Once there, I found myself amid a familiar evening crowd. Buskers played and some even sang. Lovers happily walked between homeless men. Middle-aged couples power strolled (in matching tracksuits). It was pleasant. And like most of them, I made my way Mecca-like around Shinobazu pond.
I stopped though, on the far side, in front of the boating lake. There were two benches, one was tenanted by man murmuring One-Cup soliloquies and the other was empty. I sat down. It was mostly quiet and dark, a good place for taking stock of one’s day, drinking the emergency supply of Asahi I had in my bag and just possibly, taking a photograph, too. I attached the tripod to a low railing and set up the camera: its timer, film speed, exposure duration etc. Once happy, I pressed the button and sat back – on a seat that started to move. It was a quiver rather than a shake but one that lasted for as long as the my picture was taken. The result was as you’d expect. Blurry and unfocused. Instinctively, I binned it – a mistake – but then took it again. Unsullied that time by tectonic shifts from far away, it came out all right. Of course, you can see that the picture isn’t going to set the world alight. It’s summery, yes, there’s an agreeable reflection, there are pedalos the same colour as a Miami beachfront and the streetlights spangly. But what about the crane?
The gear: LX3, f2, 1.6, ISO400, on a Gorillapod
