In the Heat of the Night // Beautiful Japan #29

In windless cold that is the heart's heat,
Reflecting in a watery mirror
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.
—T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

For years, stretching back to my film days, I was a sunset chaser. I would run or drive all over town, with one eye to the sky, chasing the perfect shot. There is something magical when the sun approaches the horizon and the sky turns fiery.

With two kids and other demands, I don't much make time for it these days, but I still have a filing cabinet at my parents house full of sunset photos. A few of them have been scanned and are sitting on one of my external hard drives among the thousands more digital photos of the same thing. I think should I ever stop taking photos, I have more than enough on one of my many drives to stay in this business for some time to come.

While nothing compares with those amazing sunsets they get on the west coast of the US, the Pacific side of Japan does get some pretty wild sunsets.

In this photo, I panned over to keep the main deal out of the shot. Why? I don't know, just something different. Hinting at the magic that is there instead of showing it. As in my beloved haiku, often hinting at a thing is more powerful than directly showing it.

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Don't miss the other great photos in the Beautiful Japan photo series!

#1–10 Beautiful Japan Collection
#11 — What a Blur
#12 — The Watcher at the Shrine
#13 — Giant Torii in Road
#14 — Resting Leaves
#15 — The Family that Drinks Together, Stays Together
#16 — Fire in the Sky
#17 — The Streets of Takayama
#18 — Red Path
#19 — Fading Japan
#20 — Relaxing at the River
#21 — Traditional Japanese Gate and Garden
#22 — Daruma-san Korokoro
#23 — Weeping Temple
#24 — Ready for Liftoff
#25 — Pounding the Taiko Drum
#26 — Good Luck Cranes
#27 — Red Leaves at Castle
#28 — Reflections

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Thank you for reading. :)

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I post one photo everyday, as well as some misc posts such as haiku, videos, more Japanese history, and so on. Let me know if there is anything about Japan you would like to know more about or would like to see.

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	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time.