Firstly, the visitor counter for this blog just hit the three thousand. Many thanks to all visitors!

"If at first you don't succeed", the saying goes...and when I was taught it, the rest was "try, try again" (although I also saw "cheat" in a joke book: I came to realise later that it was only partly a joke).

A few days ago I read that there was another fireworks display/festival in the local(ish) area, and my summer holiday is over soon, so I figured I'd go, even though something in my instincts was telling me not to. I over-rode it, and I shouldn't have. It was a total waste of a trip. There were so many people there that there was literally nowhere to even properly set up a tripod, and when I did manage to temporarily get it set up, someone tripped over it and broke it. It was a cheapie, anyway. But photographically speaking it was an almost total write-off. I got all of two acceptable pictures, and neither of them were in any way special.

So the following day I decided to try and make up for it. I went out early to a temple where I go to shoot now and then. It's called Koshoji, it's in Yagoto, an area of Nagoya, and it's a nice temple with an agreeable surrounding area. I walked around it and took some shots. While I was doing this, one of the ladies who works there told me that there was going to be a festival in the evening. This time, my instincts were screaming "go!", and I let them have their way. The result? FIFTY shots (that's just digital; I also got through half a roll of Superia 400) that I was happy enough to keep. That's enough for a two-or-three part entry.

The first part will be the temple itself. A mixture of shots from the morning and evening, hopefully more or less chronologically. So here we go.

First shot is actually on the way to the temple, but I couldn't resist it.

One of the notable characteristics of a festival are the lanterns, which are everywhere.

Some views of the temple itself. I know I probably sound like a broken record / scratched CD / glitched MP3 (choose according to your generational preference), but the resolution of the DP3 Merrill is really stunning. Zoomed in, the detail it picks up is nothing short of incredible.

Reflected in the water

To finish off this part, a few other shots from around the temple area

Thanks for looking, as always. I'll have the next entry up in a few days, and it will be mostly if not entirely composed of dance photos.