Beginning of Autumn

Beginning of Autumn │ NEX-7 & Sony E 18-55 │ 25mm, 1/60, ISO 250, f/6.3, Lightroom 4.2

Most photographic blogs and websites I follow are lamenting the end of Autumn with each shortening day. Here in Tokyo, we’re only just getting started! Prior to this week, there was only a hint of yellow rust creeping down the trees, but we’re just about entering full-swing now. It’s probably the best time to view Tokyo, Autumn. The weather is cool and crisp (not the 40°C summer with 90% humidity), and the trees start to turn into such amazing colours. In a few weeks though, Tokyo will be a bleak (though sunny) concrete jungle - more to come on that topic! ^^.

As I mentioned earlier, we’re in the process of looking for a new place. This means a huge cost of key money, deposit, agency fee (1 month + 0.5%)… not exactly ideal just before Christmas! This weekend we’re going to be looking at a few places in the centre of Tokyo, hoping to find somewhere nice, which doesn’t cost the earth.

Anyways, about the photo. It’s a crop (thank the NEX-7’s 24M pixels) of a shot taken with the kit lens. Yes, the kit lens. People hate the kit lens. Forums are full of people complaining about how poor it is compared to X, Y and Z lens (Z being Zeiss), but the fact of the matter is, I like it. I like it a lot. It’s small, has optical stabilisation (great for low light), is a zoom lens (versatile), and matches the camera well (all black metal). With the body, it is an absolute bargain, so I decided to get it anyway. As for the photo, I saw this woman having coffee under the tree in the background, next to the clock tower (10:10 approximately; a nice aesthetic coincidence), and all the colours in front of me just leapt out.

Here’s the original shot from which the top photo is cropped.