A dog, kimonos and thoughts of new lenses
Only a few articles ago, I published some kimono photos from Sensoji. Do you remember them? They were from the Sanja Festival. There was a dog photo too. I have many pictures left, so I decided to show more.
And there is one thing I have to tell you. Did you see the picture of the chihuahua in the first article? His owner saw a photo I posted on Instagram! The dog’s name was Montjiro, and he has a huge following on the platform.
There were also some pugs with a cat. They were all in their finest festival clothes. And they were friendly. None of them hissed or barked. There was one incident, though.
The cat socked a dog. It was a sudden powerful paw swipe. But there was no damage. The pug took it in its stride. He just turned away while the crowd roared with laughter. What did he do? I had no idea. And I had no idea why everyone thought it was so funny.
I’d like to get a different lens for events like these. For most shots, I’ve used Fujifilm’s 16-55 and 55-200. They are both wonderful pieces of kit. But in crowds, they are relatively heavy and slow to manage.
The 23 mm f2 lens seems ideal. It is small, affordable, and has good image quality, especially in the center. And its auto-focus is very fast. That is the type of lens I need.
Over the last couple of days, I have been thinking about things. I enjoy this type of candid photography. It’s good taking photos of people in daily situations.
But I wonder what it might be like to ask them to pose. Put them against a wall and take some photos. That might be interesting. If you want me to try, let me know.
I doubt there will be many more major festivals for me to attend in 2022. According to the internet, the Sanno at Hie Shrine has been canceled. It’s probably the same for the others. I will confirm things as soon as possible. Hopefully, there will be some smaller ones happening over the summer months. I’d like to get more photos of kimonos soon!
And an update. Eventually, I did buy a new lens. I got the Fujifilm XF 35 mm F2. See how it performed at the 2022 Tori-no-Ichi in Shinjuku. It was a purchase I didn’t regret.
For more fashion articles, look at:
External related websites:
- Sensoji (official website)