The celestial ballet

Have you ever set a reminder so far ahead in time that it really, truly, becomes a reminder? I did just that around a year ago, when I created a calendar alert for "good views of venus". I'd taken some photos of the moon and venus, but it was a little cloudy. I looked up when venus would next be so visible in this part of the world, and the internet told me "Dec 5th 2013". I made a reminder in the calendar application on my computer, and forgot about it until 4:30pm this afternoon, when my phone reminded me. I quickly grabbed my RX1 (a focal length of 35mm is not usually considered ideal for taking a photograph of the moon) and made my way to the stairs at the end of my building. I often take photos from this position, but rarely after sunset. The sun had just gone down, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky - just perfect colours. I watched venus and the moon perform their annual celestial ballet, as Tokyo descended into darkness.

Dramatic Lighting

This time of year is like a second rainy season. The skies are often very dramatic, with water-laden clouds lining the horizon. If you're lucky, you may even see a rainbow or two. Soon, the skies will be clear in preparation for the amazing blue which characterises winter in Japan. I'm looking forward to that, but in the meantime, I will try to work with what I've got. 

I typically perform very subtle (if any) edits to my photos, as the direct camera output pleases me greatly. However, I had a little fun with the picture below, and slightly tweaked the tint in the sky for a bit more drama.

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Dramatic Skies | RX1 | 1/200s f/11.0 ISO100 35mm | Lightroom tweaks (clarity & tint)

Flat-tops

Almost exactly six months ago, I stood in this exact same place and took an almost identical photo, using an almost identical focal length.  

Even though Mt. Fuji is currently without its trademark snow-cap, you can still make it out to the left of the Shinjuku Government Offices (tallest building, with twin-towers) due to the clear skies following the last typhoon. 

To add a sense of scale, from where I was standing, those skyscrapers are 7 km away. Mt. Fuji is 125 km away, and 3,776 m tall.

Goroawase

Tokyo Sky Tree towers above Tokyo at a height of 634m, broadcasting HD television (amongst its other uses). Its height of 634m was no accident; it stands in the old province of Musashi and the numbers 6 (mu) 3 (sa) 4 (shi) spell out mu-sa-shi.

Using numbers to spell out words in this manner is called Goroawase in Japanese, and is extremely popular. In another example, the number 23 can be read as "ni san", and the car manufacturer Nissan frequently enter cars numbered '23' into motorsport events.

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Rooftop garden

As you can see from the first photo, space is at such a premium in Tokyo that the most likely place to find a garden, is on a rooftop! 

Here's a direct link to a 100% JPEG of the first photo, which was taken at a distance of 6.1km from Tokyo Sky Tree

The other side of Shibuya

Shibuya is a multi-layered behemoth of a district. There are roads above train lines above roads above tunnels. I wanted a photo showing another layer, the other side of Shibuya.

Shibuya can be somewhat glamorous, with expensive shops and department stores, but is typically associated as being a teenage or youth district, with the famous 109 building in its centre. The kids dress funky, and the place never seems to be quiet. Though it's still a relatively clean place (though probably dirty by Tokyo standards), there are thousands of stickers to be found, if you look close enough.