In September 2024, I had the opportunity to visit the Japanese Garden in Portland as I stayed in town after a work event. Slowly walking through the garden I could leave the busy week behind and enjoy the suchness of its beauty–and I took some pictures in between my moments of stillness.
The editing of the photos is inspired by Zen photography, especially the work of Fernando Lemos whose exhibition I recently saw at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon (that will have to be another post). In the above image, I was especially inspired by his use of seemingly odd angles that make sense as you stop analyzing them and just see without looking.
While Zen photography tends to be completely black-and-white with high contrast, I still wanted to capture a subtle hint of the colors I saw.
I kept the most color in my photo of the tea house because I felt it better united the interior and exterior.
As I was about to leave I had the luck to catch a small intimate concert with three local women playing traditional music on the Koto. They also explained the instrument, the significance of the various pieces they played, and the rituals of the performance.
It was all an amazing experience and absolutely nothing special–trees, moss, stones, and music.