531 - Japanese Tea Garden
Today I realized that a rodent was more spiritual than me.
Let me rewind a bit. And full disclosure, this adventure happened immediately after the California Street one, so I was running on fumes the whole time.
Literally. I’d been standing on the street for three hours for a single (godly) photo. But that’s not the point. The point was my hunger for photography had just been awakened again. Like a bear that’d just had his first taste of meat after a long winter, I was ready to devour some images alive.
See, lately I’ve only been able to do photography in small streaks because my financial situation has been non-ideal. I don’t want to get into details, but it rhymes with “yebt yecause yy Yoyota Yrius yeeps yreaking yown.” My current routine was that I’d work for a few weeks, then squeeze as many photoshoots as I could into a few, heavenly days.
And I couldn’t think of a better slice of paradise than the Japanese Tea Garden located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
It was a place where miniature, color-filled scenes came to life. A place where compositions gave themselves up like it was a 1960s orgie. A place where I could fill my monstrous hunger for pictures, then lay on my back the rest of the day in some kind of delirious, editing haze. It was exactly what I needed.
We entered the park at exactly 9AM that Saturday morning, knowing it would be another hour or two before the crowds really began to settle in. The lighting was near perfect for a botanical garden. Enough overcast to cast a soft, appetizing light, but not too much so that it’d spoil the meal.
I greedily looked over the goods, unsure where to start. The first thing that caught my eye was a neatly kept pond. All sorts of wild reflections bounced off the still water, so I snapped the first scene that popped:
“Fernflection”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 800 ~ 43mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/400s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Mmm. Tasty. I particularly enjoyed the greenery in the top left framed by the black shadow, then the eerie texture patterns of the overhanging tree. A simple, protruding subject surrounded by a complex pattern.
But what else could I do with this water? Surely there was more. Then, suddenly, like some kind of divine gift from Confucious himself, a koi fish sputtered up to the surface, disrupting the surface tension of the pond.
I quickly snagged a reflection shot of a red Japanese house thing. I probably should know what they’re called. Hold on.
Alright, they’re called Machiyas. AKA traditional Japanese wooden townhouses made famous by Kyoto. Boom. History:
“Ripped”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 800 ~ 70mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/160s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
That shot almost looks like some kind of wacky Photoshop filter. But it’s completely unedited besides a few basic color enhancements. Quick and dirty.
ALRIGHT. It was time to venture away from the pond before I drank my appetite away. It was time for hor d'oeuvres.
The first scene I ordered up was a nice three section of savory leaves that stood solemnly in the corner of the garden, completely ignored by the normies. I often find less colorful scenes to be a nice warm up, because they force simplicity of shape:
“Three of a Kind”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 500 ~ 24mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/125s]
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Got-damn those are yummy. I cleaned up the plate with another macro, this time adding a single element of color into the space:
“Chicken Foot”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 1600 ~ 31mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/80s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Red and green are pure class. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. And no, I didn’t place that leaf conveniently in the middle of those leaves. Seriously. I didn’t. Stop asking.
We kept walking, taking one thing in at a time. The place was massive. I framed up a few more shots, but I’d rather not post them because they came out absolutely horrid. “To see and listen to the wicked, is already the beginning of wickedness” echoed into my head. I guess the Zen was starting to get to me. Then I realized that quote had nothing to do with me.
My stomach growled for a main course, rudely interrupting my enlightenment. I needed something big. Something so gnarly and substantial that it’d make this place a feast to remember. Then I spotted the moss garden.
My first shot involved three trees framed up by two big boys:
“Three Amigas”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 2000 ~ 48mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/160s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
God, I love moss. It’s the perfect garnish for mother earth, turning dirt into unabridged royalty. I kept walking. This moss mukbang wasn’t over yet.
It was time to add another spice. Salt. More specifically, Himalayan Pink:
“Moss Dance Floor”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6
[ISO 2500 ~ 24mm ~ f/14 ~ 1/160s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
And that, my friends, was my main course. A brilliant display of green, contrasted by a pungent speckle of pink and red. There was quite a bit going on- so I used the rock and the tree stump as anchors in the center of the image.
Phew. I let out a massive belch. My physical hunger fell off and my camera buttons began to bulge. But my mental hunger had only just begun. A creeping feeling of dread set in.
My mind began to enter this state that I can only define as “unhinged gluttony.” If you’ve ever seen a fat person completely obliterate a pizza after being several burgers deep, you’d know what I was talking about.
I didn’t want more photos. I needed them. I proceeded to spend the next hour shooting sub-par images of everything even slightly interesting. I was exhausted, but my mind wasn’t having it. I simply couldn’t stop consuming.
Then I saw a squirrel run across some zen rocks. It hopped delicately, searching for a lost nut amongst a sea of pebbles. It moved nothing, gliding through the scene as airy as a leaf in the wind. It was a sort of beacon of peace in my ravenous mind:
“Zen Squirrel”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 3200 ~ 70mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/800s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Eventually it found its nut, stopped, and ate it:
“Nutter Butter”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM
[ISO 2500 ~ 198mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/8000s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Then I realized it was a metaphor for this entire place. The whole point of the Japanese Garden, condensed into a single rodent. Find a scene. Take a step back. Appreciate it.
And here I was foaming at the mouth like a rabid weasel when I already had enough food to go around. I snapped out of it, carefully put my camera back into my bag, and looked back at the squirrel. It was gone.
I glanced at my watch. I’d been shooting for almost 6 hours straight, fueled only by a single glazed donut, on almost no sleep. I tried to take inventory of my mind, but it had slowly disintegrated into a complete blur of insanity.
There was nothing I could do except take in the beauty of the garden.
I think this was what enlightenment was like.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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