Yesterday morning I spotted this beautiful Gray Heron on a treetop and watched as it stood still for about 10 minutes. Then it spread its wings and flew off over the lake. I took several shots. This one, with the rising sun at its back, was one of my favorites
Beautiful lighting and pose! I was immediately transported to Byoudoin Temple in Uji where the phoenixes on top take a similar pose. The temple is on the back of the ten yen coin, and a World Heritage site. If you are interested, scroll down and you will see the phoenix here: https://www.byodoin.or.jp/en/learn/sculpture/
@jyokota Thank you for sending the link. Fascinating. There is a resemblance in the poses of the Phoenix and the Heron. The buddha statues reminded me of the shrines I visited in Myanmar.
@redy4et Michael took that photo on a group of adult photographers we took to Japan. Basically, we led a tour of fellow photographers. We have taken 11 trips together with high schoolers but so far this has been our only adult trip. The same adults keep asking us when we'll lead another trip.
@jyokota If you do another trip, let me know. I also did a photo trip to Japan in 2018 with a great photographer from North Carolina. He leads 2-3 trips to Japan each year.
@redy4et I took at look at your trip -- and you had a professional photographer as your guide, so that trip cost more than double ours. Michael and I are amateurs so we take people on a trip but we don't teach anything, and we volunteer our time. I'm anxious to go on another adult trip! We have gone every two years or more often with high schoolers. Hmmm -- I'd better get MVK to start planning another trip for adults!
