Which Path Do We Take?

The incredible gates of Fushimi Inari! No doubt in my mind that this is the most magical/mystical place in Kyoto. I waited almost half an hour just to get a clean shot. Fail! I got tired of waiting because I had more places to visit that day. Too bad I didn't get the shots I want but I intended this to be an ocular visit only. So next time I come back, I'll make sure I'll get it.

For this shot I used textures one again because the plain shot was really boring in my opinion. Whenever I feel that the shot didn't capture the essence of the place even after post-processing, I tried to add something extra, like a texture, or convert it to black and white, or creative filter or when worse comes to worst I even discard the image. This image was close to being discarded.... but I LOVE KYOTO... so here it is now! LOL!

If you're interested, I have my HDR workflow below. Please do check it out
HDR Workflow

Cemetery Gates of Fushimi Inari

Since I saw the national geographic shot of the Torii gates of Fushimi Inari, I know right then and there that I had to go to that place. And finally, after about a year or so, I finally made one of my dreams come true. I have always been fascinated with Torii gates cascaded together. Architecturally, they look magnificent but I don't think it is the real reason why I'm so drawn to them. It is one of the those magical places where even if you take a 100 pictures, you will never capture the mystical feeling of the place.