Spring in Kyoto

The cherry blossoms of March were very nice. But they are long gone, replaced by leaves in a thousand different shades of green. The days are getting longer now, and warmer too. It's a time to be optimistic, to enjoy the sunshine – to enjoy life!

Missing the Beach

In early April, we spent a few days at the northern end of Kyoto Prefecture - the "back side of Japan" - in Kyo Tango and Amanohashidate. We stayed near the beach along the Sea of Japan, very quiet in the off season. Rather rural, with one-car trains that run only once an hour. An escape from the crush of tourists in the city, 2 hours on the Hashidate train from Kyoto Station.

Kyotographie Photography Festival

The Kyotographie festival has started! It's an annual, month-long international festival of photography, now in its 13th year. It’s been going on for several weeks as I write this. I have enjoyed going around to the different exhibits. The 14 official sponsored exhibits are quite nice. Sponsor money provides the budget for great venues and design, printing, framing, lighting. I found several of them more inspiring than in past years.

There is an exhibition of abandoned building photography, held in an abandoned building. A retrospective of portrait photographer Anton Corbijn, in Edo era office of a sake distributor. An enormous retrospective of Osaka street photographer Daido Moriyama at one of the major art museums. An exhibit of Kenyan photographer Thandiwe Muriu combining Japanese kimono with Kenyan fabrics, in the showroom of a 10th generation obi maker. (An Obi is the wide band of complimentary fabric that wraps around the waist in a kimono.)

But the most interesting exhibitions are always the KG+ satellite exhibitions. They are little gems, mounted by the photographers themselves with only a small budget. They have to do everything themselves (as I have), and provide proof of exhibition space before they are accepted into this lightly curated satellite festival.

This year there are over 200 of these satellite exhibitions. Some look professionally done, some... less so. There are unconventional but creative displays. Some photos are framed and properly lit, some are simply pinned to the walls, some just lying on the floor. The breadth of exhibit spaces are also quite varied, from galleries to coffee shops, clothing stores, and traditional Japanese machiya.

For me, Kyotographie is a time to connect with friends, meet new people, look at a lot of photography, and hopefully get inspired.

My own exhibition has been on for a few days now. It was quite busy during the Golden Week of Japanese national holidays, a bit quieter today. Another 10 days to go. If you find yourself in Kyoto, please visit.

The response has been quite positive. People are buying my books, too, so that always helps. I’m pretty happy about the way the show came out.

My partner Lana is very excited about the success of her first ever photo exhibition, and is now actively scouting out locations for next year.

Homage to Arashiyama Catalog

I have also made a book of the photographs in my exhibition. It's 42 pages, in a similar size (8"x 8") as my Empty Kyoto book. More information here...

Photogenic Exhibition Echo 2026

There is another photo exhibition I'm participating in, ECHO2026, May 29~May 31 at the Kyoto Kyocera Museum of Art. It's a large exhibition of photographs by professionals and amateurs alike. I have two photos in this exhibition. Information in Japanese only, sorry.

Preparing and being present at these photo exhibitions has reduced my available time for new photography. I look forward to spending more time afterwards wandering around shooting anything and everything.

Kyoto and Tokyo for the next few weeks, then back to America for the summer.

I hope my flight doesn't get cancelled.

Stay well everyone. And stay focused on what's important.