I needed to take my mind off of where we are now, which is in the middle of a global pandemic, and I needed to post something; the last post was a look back at Arsenal in London, something of a lifelong dream come true, so a hard act to follow. To try to skim for inspiration, I’ve updated the Flickr account with some more photos from this year. Some choices will follow.
We started our year out in Tokyo, and wandered around Ginza. Last fall I picked up Fujifilm’s 16 mm f/2.8 WR, which makes for a fun walk-around snapshot lens. It’s tiny — barely bigger than the 27mm pancake lens — but super wide and incredibly responsive. My next big purchase will be one of the other ‘Fujicron’ f/2 lenses, but for now the 16 is providing some interesting angles.
Apologies for the dust spots!
Like I said: Nice and very wide.
A week on from the downtown wander, the wife and I spent a night at an onsen down the coast, and spent the Sunday winding our way back up through Odawara and back to Yokohama before getting home. This is a view from a peak all the way down to Lake Ashino (芦ノ湖) with Mt. Fuji hiding itself in the background.
And Odawara Castle, as you do.
We wound our way back to Yokohama to get dinner in the Chinatown district. It was crowded with people, but also full of neon and lights as well — some of my favorite street scenes to shoot.
It seems so hard to believe in retrospect — life was normal, and the pandemic sweeping the world and requiring us to stay home was still a localized problem. Freedom of movement is something I’m definitely taking less for granted once we get to the other side!
I started week four of working from home today. In that time, the farthest I’ve gone is on a walk or a run around our neighborhood — I haven’t ridden a train or subway for those last four weeks. Tokyo is a great city for walking and for access, so to be confined to one spot feels so limiting. There’s a reason we often head out to explore, or at least go get dinner out and about — not being able to do so, though hardly the biggest sacrifice in the world, still starts to take its toll.
But we will get through it, and we will have life after this pandemic has subsided. There will be a time when gathering outside won’t feel like a mortal danger, and when staying safe won’t equate to staying home. But until that time, we stay close, and wait.
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