Photographer Introspection Amidst the Serenity at Kyoto’s Rurikoin Temple

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35mm — 1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 3200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

A Moment of Quiet Introspection

at the Rurikoin Temple (瑠璃光院), Kyoto Japan
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200










Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Your Seat Awaits

this is absolutely what you'll find if you visit this weekend
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800









Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/9, ISO 4000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Serenity Incarnate

and other lies
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800

Some friends and I paid a morning visit to the Rurikoin Temple (瑠璃光院) in north-east Kyoto on Thursday. It was my second visit, after the first two years ago when
Damien introduced me to the place.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 125 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Waiting For the 10AM Opening

Two years ago it was probably about 500 yen (US $5) to get in, but I
heard that they stopped being open to the public for a while. This year
they're back, but it's 2,000 yen (US $20) to get in. It's a Buddhist Temple
and so ostensibly a religious place (whose income is tax free), but during
the fall-foliage season their business is all about photography: the vast
majority of visitors are folks like me who want to take pretty
pictures.

It's probably safe to say that 100% of the folks lined up that morning
to pay their 2,000 yen were there for photos.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 110 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Heading In








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 720 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Path Up to the Buildings

After entering, you're first funneled to the 2nd-floor room with the
money view (so to speak) of the foliage. It's where I took the “serene”
shots that open this post, but it was far from serene. The scene as it
appeared when I first turned the corner at the top of the steps:

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/40 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Scurrying for Shots

(The photo above has its color balance set for the incandescent lighting
in the room, rather than for the sunlight outside. Other photos are
balanced for sunlight.)

The room is intended for meditation and the writing of sutras. The table in the background had pads of blank papers,
ink, and brushes, so that you can copy the provided sutras. The seat pillows away from the table are for quiet contemplation of
the beautiful scene outside.

But nobody here cared about any of that stuff. Everyone was there to
take pictures, and I immediately became embarrassed about it for reasons I
can't quite put my finger on.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/8, ISO 4000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

When visiting a temple or shrine, I never forget that I'm visiting a
religious place, and that indeed I'm a visitor among people using
the place for its religious purpose. But this time, there was not even the
slightest pretense by anyone that the sole intent of the location and its
visitors was anything other than photography. This made me sad a bit.

Yet, at the same time, since everyone had the same purpose, the same
“unwritten rules” were followed, so, for example, the photogenic corner of
the room was left empty so that it could be part of a good shot. People
would sometimes try to creep in a bit on one corner or the other to catch a
different angle, but for the most part it was sort of amazing how the
“crowd mentality” worked for the common good:

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 450 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Absolutely Teeming

with rabid photographers all over the place just out of frame

In the shot above, one person had snuck a bit forward, only to soon
retreat back to the scrum after she took her picture.

As I said, I felt a bit bad/embarrassed for nondescript reasons, and I was acutely aware of
the old saying:

“You are not stuck in traffic. You are traffic.”

With this in mind I was trying to be extra reserved and deferential to others, but I was still
there clicking away, as the photos on this post prove.

At one point a lone man ventured boldly into the open space to “enjoy”
the view, but he was clearly irked by the photographers and, by the way he
acted, it seemed he had planted himself there merely to spite them.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Rebellion

I felt bad for him because he had a right to enjoy the place for its
intended purpose. These kind of scenic spots are deluged by folks with
cameras during Kyoto's glorious fall-foliage season, but usually everyone
enjoys the area in harmony, each for their own reasons. Sometimes you get
occasional
bottlenecks when folks' manners are temporarily overcome by their
enthusiasm (an offense I try not to be guilty of, but I'm sure I am from
time to time). But here, in the rush just after the temple opened to
the scrum of photographers, there was no harmony.

I also feel bad for him because it seems his intention was to ruin the
view for photography, but standing there alone, he actually added a nice
human focal point. A photo of him leads this post, but that photo and the
one directly above are the only I took of him. I didn't want to be the
traffic he was stuck in, so I moved to another room for a while.

Eventually he moved on, and again the photo-crowd mentality took over and
the most photogenic part of the room was left open...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 220 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Deserted

at least until you get one pixel out of frame

I often use creative composition to take advantage of the easiest way to
lie with the camera (“If It’s Not in Frame, It Doesn’t Exist”),
and in this room with these “photographer crowd mentality” rules in play,
it was quite effective.

But all good things must come to an end. One of the photographers, after
waiting for a while, sort of asked the crowd whether he could move forward
to take a picture. One of the temple worker said yes, of course, go ahead
by all means don't hesitate, and he very quickly and apologetically moved
forward to take a shot...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50mm — 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 3600 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Nabbing a Quick Snap
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800

But with that the spell was broken and the dike burst. Here's the scene 10 seconds later:

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/80 sec, f/7.1, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

And another minute and a half later, as I was on my way out for the last time...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

I have some interest in these places as historical sites, to imagine who
build them and who maintained them over the years, but 99% of my interest
is in the ability to take and share photos. I have no qualms or embarrassment
about that, but something about that morning made me very uneasy.

It could be that the hefty admission price filtered out (almost)
everyone but those serious about getting nice photos, and the
resulting scrum/mood just didn't fit the setting in my mind. I've
had the occasion to take photographs during a Catholic Mass
(examples
here,
here, and
here), but even though
in each case I had the explicit permission from the priest, I still felt uneasy because
the intention of Mass lies elsewhere.

And then on top of that, to see someone who didn't get the “cameras
required” memo bristle against the rainfall of shutter clicks made me feel
bad for being part of the problem.

I'd like to think that I and my friends were more respectful and
courteous than the bulk of the scrum there, but perhaps that's just
me looking at myself through autumn-colored glasses.

Anyway, that's why there will be no wigglegrams
from this room. To make one requires a high-speed shutter burst (10 frames
per second for a second or two), and given the particulars of the setting
and my feelings, I just couldn't allow myself to be that much traffic.