Profound Randomness

I'm an American photographer living in Japan. I take photos and talk about them. Sometimes other stuff too, random bits from my brain and whatnot.


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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

Dragon Wishes on Flickr.

Dragon Wishes on Flickr.

Dragon’s Claw A dragon’s claw, reaching up and grasping at the stone. Horrifying! Run while you can! Sometimes you just have to have fun with an image. This claw belongs to our old friend, the dragon guarding the temizuya at all Shinto Shrines. His claw alone didn’t seem all that interesting, so I decided to make the photo look like more of something you might see from a 1930s horror film. I desaturated it, added some blur in spots, and that thick black border which bleeds in in places. I liked the results. Not a great photo by any stretch—maybe not even a good one—but it was certainly a fun one to do.

Dragon’s Claw

A dragon’s claw, reaching up and grasping at the stone. Horrifying! Run while you can!

Sometimes you just have to have fun with an image. This claw belongs to our old friend, the dragon guarding the temizuya at all Shinto Shrines.

His claw alone didn’t seem all that interesting, so I decided to make the photo look like more of something you might see from a 1930s horror film. I desaturated it, added some blur in spots, and that thick black border which bleeds in in places.

I liked the results. Not a great photo by any stretch—maybe not even a good one—but it was certainly a fun one to do.

The Watcher of the Shrine [83/365] A view from the dragon at the temizuya1 overlooking the shrine grounds. He looks kind of sinister with his claws latched onto the stone like that, don’t you think? If you look closely you can see a spider web coming from his body to his arm. I guess being a Shinto Shrine guardian doesn’t involve much movement. The place where you wash your hands, your mouth, and your feet at the Shinto Shrine. Ok, some people clean their mouth, but no one cleans their feet. Still—you’re suppose to. God likes clean feet. ↩

The Watcher of the Shrine [83/365]

A view from the dragon at the temizuya1 overlooking the shrine grounds. He looks kind of sinister with his claws latched onto the stone like that, don’t you think? If you look closely you can see a spider web coming from his body to his arm. I guess being a Shinto Shrine guardian doesn’t involve much movement.

  1. The place where you wash your hands, your mouth, and your feet at the Shinto Shrine. Ok, some people clean their mouth, but no one cleans their feet. Still—you’re suppose to. God likes clean feet. ↩

I suppose your first reaction upon seeing this chained dragon1 might be along the lines of “good—best keep that dangerous creature trapped”, but let’s remember that unlike the demonic, sinister dragons in European stories, the Asian dragon is seen as a gentle, peaceful creature and a force for good. Considering that, it seems kind of cruel to keep him chained there. Hmm… maybe I should have freer him. I could have gotten a wish or something. Oh well. More seriously, this is the place where you are suppose to wash your hands before praying at the inner shrine. This one hadn’t been cleaned in a while: The fallen leaves had clogged the drain up. One more thing before I go. The November J-Blogger Matsuri ended today. Ashley of Surviving in Japan just did the wrap-up post. I suggest you go read it. Also, go read my entry about making miso if you missed it. See more shinto shrine pics. Yes, I know it’s a rather tiny chain. Maybe it’s magical! ↩

I suppose your first reaction upon seeing this chained dragon1 might be along the lines of “good—best keep that dangerous creature trapped”, but let’s remember that unlike the demonic, sinister dragons in European stories, the Asian dragon is seen as a gentle, peaceful creature and a force for good. Considering that, it seems kind of cruel to keep him chained there. Hmm… maybe I should have freer him. I could have gotten a wish or something. Oh well.

More seriously, this is the place where you are suppose to wash your hands before praying at the inner shrine. This one hadn’t been cleaned in a while: The fallen leaves had clogged the drain up.

One more thing before I go. The November J-Blogger Matsuri ended today. Ashley of Surviving in Japan just did the wrap-up post. I suggest you go read it. Also, go read my entry about making miso if you missed it.

See more shinto shrine pics.

  1. Yes, I know it’s a rather tiny chain. Maybe it’s magical! ↩