Portland Japanese Garden from bbd on Vimeo.
I was inspired recently by Harry Homeless' beautiful blog on the Fort Worth Japanese Gardens and remembered my own recent trip to the Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon.
I put this slideshow together for the wife, partner and bride of a wonderful OS friend actually, and want to share it with you now too after sending it along to them last week. Her response was lovely and gracious.
(If you click through to the Vimeo site, you'll be able to see a larger version of it—and in HD, if it doesn't show in HD for you here.)
The garden is located a bit west of downtown Portland near Washington Park, the Zoo and the famous Rose Test Gardens. It's easily accessible by public transportation from anywhere in the Portland metropolitan area by means of Light Rail and a short ride on the TriMet bus from the Zoo Light Rail station.
I was lucky enough to be there in the spring when things were just starting to bloom. I've seen pictures of the Garden in the fall, and the trees then are just glorious. I hope I can make it back to view it in a different season.
I was also fortunate in going when there were not many people there, which sometimes enhances an experience for me. I'm a contemplative photographer—I like to take my time in framing my photos and thinking about the shots and enjoying where I am.
As you might imagine, photography is a major activity in the garden, and there are policies in place to help manage that. The managing Society requires that anyone showing up with a tripod has to pay a modest fee. They also prohibit portrait photography—family portraits, weddings, school or engagements photos by professionals or amateurs alike.
They do welcome photographers, but with some further restrictions. Even though it is open to the public, the Society says I may not sell any of the images I've taken there without first paying for a $150 one-year Photographer Membership. I must also properly credit the gardens which I will do here now: All of my photos in this slide show were taken at the Portland Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon.
I may sound like I'm grumbling a bit, but I don't really mind their policies. The fees are a modest control designed to enhance the peaceful experience for photographers and visitors alike and add funds to help support the work in maintaining the gardens.
I hope you enjoy this respite from all the Sturm und Drang of the economy, all the political infighting and whatever personal roadblocks to peace that we routinely encounter.
N.B. This is the second of two video slideshows with music that I've put up. Take a look at the first one, put together from images of my visit to the abandoned movie set Contrabando.
all images copyright © 2008 by barry b. doyle • all rights reserved
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Comments
I'm so glad you've picked up this new skill. It's a lovely way to showcase the photos.
I think I'll play this when I need a "Zen Mommy" moment.
(thumbified for placidity)
Thanks!
That helped.
Over the weekend I was at two gardens very near my town. On Saturday I visited a Japanese stroll garden (open to the public) which is on a much smaller scale than Portland, and on Sunday an expansive public rock garden near the Hudson River which I saw when it was first being planted in 1973 and it was a private residence. I hadn't been back there at all since then, so it was a dramatic transformation to see 36 years later.
The FWJG photography policy I think is $75 per hour with a tripod.
I've gotta hook up the internet to my HD Samsung at home. This would be ideal in the background at dinner.
Thanks!
P.S. - make sure that Theo sees this. She needs to get over there.
Oh, I do miss Japan sometimes.
(rated for nostalgia)
Love the music which accompanies this as well.
p.s. I'll never forget the first time I saw a formal Japanese garden - I was in Tokyo, as it happens. I had never realized gardens could *do* that.
Grif, thanks for coming by. Yeah the maples never seem to stay still, subtle movements all the time.
Verbal, glad to have helped.
John, I always love the comments you leave. You always make a great connection between us in a thoughtful way. Thanks so much.
Harry, thanks! you got this ball rolling, and I'm in your debt.
kmb, coming from a photographer I so admire, I love your thoughts here, thanks.
marcelle, I do too. I should do a photo/video collage of my Tokyo photos.
Connie, our friend Stellaa here can view my images and videos on her HDTV in her home. I made a Flickr set just for her. I think it's another way, as she does, of how we connect with each other. Thanks for your kind words.
Stacey, thanks so much. I had hoped that you would like this.
Wordsmith-san, domo arigato/本当にありがとうございます
Cathy, thanks so much, the track is Alone in Kyoto by Air
Sandra, thanks for coming by and for your comment. I like to think my intention is to share and make others feel good. Japanese gardens are indeed great places to be.
Thanks Faith, glad you came by too.
I think what they mean by the "amateur" designation is that if you take a photo of someone or a group and intend to use it as if you had paid a professional photographer to do the same thing, be it to send out a holiday letter, or hang it on your wall at home, that it's prohibited.
The juxtaposition of highly manicured shrubbery and free form small trees creates just part of the mystique of these gardens and Japanes gardens especially. If one could turn off the color here and just watch in black and white the forms will show themselves even more so. That's a good way to conceptualize one's own garden spaces, i.e., as silhouettes. I knew several of the gardeners and installers here and the work of setting a single edifce boulder could take all day.
Thank you.
thanks ann! I think if that's what you want, you offload the young'uns on the partner and go get 'er done. This afternoon, tomorrow at the latest. Tell him I said it's ok.
(a tiny sniggle about the garden, not the slideshow - I wish they didn't feel the need to trim the azaleas down to bowling ball smoothness)
Ardee, I know! I'm used to seeing them more freeform around here. Thanks for your comment.
Rob, I'm so glad you like it--means a lot.
HSL, I love everything about your avatar and your screen name, even down to the correct placement of the comma. I also loved your nude buffet post and your own response to that with the new blog. Thanks for your kind words.
Julie, thanks! you're welcome to come along anytime.
SBA, the photo policy has been in place at least from the beginning of last year, but I don't know when it started. You don't have to pay a fee to simply take a camera in, you do have to pay a fee if you have a tripod. I did not have a tripod, but rather a monopod and tried to talk my way in without paying based on that technicality, but they wouldn't buy it, though I do feel that a monopod is much less intrusive than a tripod. Also, the $150 fee is only if you plan to market your images, as in, get paid for them.
latethink, glad that you liked it. WP is really a beautiful place. I loved walking in all the forested trails too that were outside of the park--though I got lost a couple of times.
bbe, thanks so much for that, you are the go to person for getting things out on the web. I'll follow up too.
But, while I've been away some non Oregonians have taken over the place. These fees and policies are very atypical of the culture of the place where I grew up.
Beautiful.
The azaleas are pruned in that manner in part due to the fact that if done at just the right time following the bloom they will set so that the mounds are absolutely covered in color. Free form habitat does create the sense of woodland experience but the branching creates dark spots from a distance, e.g. looking across the water, that reduce the color impact. The tighter cut also seems to create a longer lasting bloom, due in part to less shaking of branches from wind. Japanese gardening is not so much about untampered naturalness as it is about the placement of disparate elements in a cohesive whole. It is highly structured in its own way even as it demands some aspects must be free form. Thus the contrasts that strike us in a visceral way leading to an emotional response to the entire design.
Denese, that's very interesting, thanks for that comment. I had no idea.
Steve, I hope it wasn't too much. Thanks for coming by.
Patricia, thanks so much for your lovely comment, and your constant affirmation.
Thank you, bbd.
Question: did you shoot this with a still camera or with a video camera. Sometimes there was some movement in the frame, but I couldn't tell if it was video or manipulation of a still image. Also, what was the soundtrack?
Mamore, I had three young kids, so I know whereof you speak. In fact, we had three in less than three years...sort of like Irish triplets. thanks for your comments
Stephanie, glad you were able to recall lovely memories
PandP, I know you're in Portland so I'm glad you got to see my shots.
סאלי, תודה רבה לך. אוהב אותך.
Mishima, thanks so much for your kind words. I think what you saw, as little movement in the frames, as in the steps seem to move, or the roof of the tea house at the end showing movement, are little video artifacts that happen when the video steam can't keep up. they were all still shots. Put together in iMovie. The broad general movement of a frame was the Ken Burns effect that is part of the iMovie application, and you can choose that among other effects, including the fade out transitions I used.
The music is from the Lost in Translation soundtrack, a track called Alone in Kyoto by the group Air.
I'm so glad you liked it. Now we need some of your iPhone photos from the Garden.
Oh, if you click through to the Vimeo site, you may be able to see the video without or with much less artifacts. There's also the Contabando video I did on that site as well. Or go to http://www.vimeo.com/bbd and that should take you right to those two videos. thanks again.
Kisses.
I do recall the beautiful music now. There is nothing quite as lovely as a Japanese garden or monastery.
RATED (a bit late)