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Macro Photography Site Worth Seeing

Macro photography, especially refracting dew droplets, is something that has always facsinated me. The closer you get to an object the more you can identify with it, and some of God’s most amazing creations are so small we usually pass right over them.

I stumbled upon LordV Macros, a terrific website dedicated to macro photography today, and simply had to post a link here. Brian Valentine, a retired British microbiologist, has posted some stunning macro photography here.

For his refracting dew droplet shots, Dr. Valentine, or LordV, as he calls himself, uses a technique called stacking images. He takes several versions of the same composition, focusing on a different part of the composition each time, he then uses stacking images software to put the parts that are in sharp focus together. This allows a much greater depth of field than would otherwise be possible.

If you are at all interested in macro photography, stacking images or refracting dew droplets, do take a minute to visit his site. He explains how he achieves his macro photography masterpieces, and also tells what stacking images software and camera equipment he has chosen. You might want to take a peek simply to enjoy the terrific insect faces and refracting dew droplets he has composed!

Don’t know what refracting dew droplets are? Go to his site and see. You’ll be more than impressed! (And no, I didn’t take the photo of the fly, but I hope to achieve that much detail in the future!

New Years in Japan

New Years in Japan is festival based predominantly on Shinto traditions. It’s a day full of customs and superstitions that nearly everyone observes from eating fish eggs in the morning so your children will thrive to sticking your head in the mouth of a health lion!

We have a Shinto shrine near the top of a mountain near our house. Many people climb the mountain in the night to pay their respects as soon after midnight as possible. Many more make the trip in the daytime on the first or second, either hiking up the mountain in the snow, or braving the inevitable long line of cars. Either way, Shinto traditions dictate that in order to have optimum luck and success in the new year you must visit not one, but three shrines.

I drove up to the Shinto shrine this afternoon to see if I could get some interesting photos of New Years in Japan, and learned several new things. This part time temple girl is putting out good luck arrows for the new year. Each family buys one of these and puts in next to the god shelf in their home to bring good luck and fortune throughout the year.

This stylized model of a lion was one of the many Shinto traditions that was entirely new to me. I heard a clapping noise – always in sets of two and went to see what it was. A priest person all dressed in a black and white checker pattern from head to toe, was holding this lion’s head at the entrance to the temple’s inner court. There were two of them, one at each side of the entrance. Hundreds of people were lined up waiting to ask for good favor for the coming year, as as they passed the lions, they would bend down and put their heads into one of the the lion’s mouths. Then after they took their head out, the lion’s jaws would be clapped shut twice.

I asked one of the temple worker’s standing nearby to explain the meaning of this strange ceremony. He said it was for health for the new year. The health lion was said to remove any bad karma that could cause sickness, and eat it so the worshiper could start the year in perfect health. He invited me to have all my sickness eaten away by a health lion as well, but I told him I am a Christian, and had no need for help from the health lion. I just wanted to take pictures.

New Years in Japan is a complicated affair, and even the Japanese learn something new about their deep Shinto traditions every year. Personally, I’m glad my life is much simpler. May each one of you reading this have a new year full of fulfillment, health and happiness, with or without the help of a Shinto health lion!

Christmas in Japan

I am often asked if people celebrate Christmas in Japan. Yes, in a sense they do. The cities are aglow with Christmas lights and decorations from the middle of October. The traditional treat for Christmas in Japan is a white champagne cake with whipped cream and strawberries, heavily decorated with a plastic Santa Claus and reindeer.

Children sit up on Christmas eve to find out if Santa Claus will really come. In fact, all the craze among the children this year is to write to Santa without telling their parents. If they get what they want, they will know Santa Claus is real.

The main event for Christmas in Japan is the Christmas Eve date. All the hotels and restaurants are booked solid, and will serve a special Christmas Eve date dinner ranging from $80 to $300 a plate. High school boys and young adults save for months to make the Christmas Eve date special for their sweethearts, often presenting them with diamonds or other expensive gifts.

The one thing that is conspicuously missing from the festivities on Christmas in Japan, is any mention of Jesus Christ. Santas abound, but nativity scenes are not available. The grocery stores and malls play all the Santa songs and winter songs associated with Christmas, but very few carols. There is no talk of peace, love or hope, and giving to the poor is not part of the festivities.

I was walking in the hills yesterday evening, looking down at the south part of the city of Kurume and thinking about this sad situation when The sun broke through the clouds, promising a glorious sunset. The famous passage from the Bible in Isaiah 9:2 immediately etched itself on my mind: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.”

Jesus Christ came to bring the light of God’s love, forgiveness and hope to a dark and hopeless world but most of the people in Japan are still walking in darkness. Christmas in Japan misses the whole reason we celebrate the most amazing event in history.

I hope and pray your Christmas will be filled with a deeper meaning and a greater hope than Christmas in Japan with its Santa Claus and hot Christmas Eve dates. If you do not celebrate Christmas at all, have a wonderful holiday time in whatever festivities you take part in!

Introducing Children to Shinto

The Shinto religion in Japan requires parents to take their children to the shrine at ages 3, 5 and 7 to be dedicated to the Shinto gods, and recieve protection as they grow up. The children are dressed in brilliant kimonos, or finely embroidered “hakama,” the samurai costume of ancient Japan, and taken to the most prestigious shrine in the area.

The shrine of choice in Kurume is on the mountain near my house, as it’s over 500 years old, so I drove up there to see if I could get some photos of beautiful children. I got so many good ones I had a tough time choosing just a few, but here they are.

Kids will be kids in any culture, and this one was definitely not cooperating. She wanted out of all those fancy clothes right now. I managed to take this shot just before her father told her to sit up straight and smile for the camera. The Japanese lettering on the banner says “Congratulations: 3,5,7 worshippers.”

I was really just trying to capture a shot of some pretty clothes when I took this one. When I got home and looked at it closely, I noticed the story for the first time. The girl in the foreground is looking over her sister’s head at the boy in the suit, who has obviously captured her interest. Alas, just as she realizes she wants to meet him, her father leads him away. Ah well, such is life at times.

I had to work hard to get a photo of this little prince. He was just going in to the inner chambers of the shrine to be “blessed.” His mother was somewhat annoyed that I wanted a photo, but his grandmother had recognized me from somewhere and tried to speak to me in English, so she let me have one split second. Even in a public situation like this, people in Japan take off their shoes when they go inside. Thus the shoes lined up all around him.

And finally, my personal favorite. This picture forces the deep philisophical question of how we should raise our children. The young boy is pointing toward the Shinto shrine as if to say, “Dad, are we really going in there? Are you sure that’s such a good idea?” Of course we all teach our children our own traditions and values, but this picture made me wonder if that father had thought through whether the path he has chosen for his son is based on truth and reality, or just the traditions he’s been handed down.

Most people in Japan practice both Buddhism and Shinto. Nearly all of them will tell you that it means nothing to them, and they just go through the motions because it’s a tradition, but whenever something goes wrong, you will find them at a temple or shrine, trying to appease the gods so they will leave them alone.

Oh! did you notice the girl in the green kimono in the background of the last photo? That’s the same girl who was so disgruntled in the first shot. Don’t forget to click on the photos to see an enlarged version!

Autumn Cherry Blossoms

Cherry blossoms are iconic for Japan. They’re not just a national flower. In a sense they represent everything Japanese. Every park, every school, every mountain road, many private gardens, and of course every temple has its share of cherry trees. If you fly over the countryside in April you’ll see that really, the whole nation has taken on a pale pink hue.

If you ask a Japanese person, “Why cherries? Why not roses?” They will explain that its because they identify with the cherry blossom. It’s delicate and refined, and blooms when it is still quite chilly, thus representing enduring hardship with grace and beauty. The main thing they identify with is the fact that they are so short lived. They last only about 3 days, and then rain down from the tree in the slightest breeze. They will tell you that’s how they want to live. Beautifully, and with grace, then when the time comes to let go of life, or even just a relationship or a stage in their life, they want to let go with no struggle and no regrets.

I think it’s a shade on the dark and lonely side to see them trying to be satisfied with this life with no thought of what may come after, but indeed it is a noble effort.

What most Japanese don’t even know is that some types of cherries bloom in the fall as well. In the fall, for some reason the flowers last for weeks. These trees started blooming in mid Sept. and are still going strong six weeks later. A testimony to the fact that life doesn’t necessarily have to be short to be sweet.