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The Gentle Path to the Beyond The little train that carried me into Hakone started winding through misty mountains. The trees were thick and a fog was rolling in. I had a feeling that it would stay wet, moody, and fairly perfect. It had that heaviness that made you feel like it would remain like that for a few days, and it did.Before I get on train rides, I have a wonderful but dangerous habit of loading up with pastries. Train stations seem to have nice little selections of all sorts of foreign twists on the usual subjects. And, since I consider myself an explorer, I thought it would be good to get a TON of pastries and try them all. It's very nice... sitting there... looking out the train window at a new land... rain falling... eating pastries... (and I'm only a little ashamed to say that, upon arrival, my pastry bag was empty.)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Midnight Wonder Garden Whenever I am in a place like this, I try to linger as late as possible so I am the last one remaining. There are occasionally other people around, but I really prefer to be by myself. I enjoy listening to music, relaxing, and walking around to find the interesting angles.These are the lower gardens of Kiyomizu-dera in one of the older parts of Kyoto. I've been to this area multiple times, and I try to go at different times of the day and different seasons. I'd love to be lucky once and catch it in the snow... I suppose that would mean I need to go in the winter or something.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Hidden Temple in Bamboo at Night This place was pretty far off the usual beaten path but I was glad to find it!In Kyoto, there is a wonderful and unexpected temple that weaves through an old bamboo forest. It weaves up, down, and around hills with warm, calming bamboo swaying about. Here and there, little temples, urns, and benches are placed. Everything is delicately lit to add to the mood. And just beyond where the lights are, the bamboo forest is pitch black and full of wonderful mystery.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Japanese Girl with Mask The white mask is a popular meme in Japan. It’s pervasive and it affects all ages. I see school children wearing masks, old people in the subway, and everyone in between. I was waiting to see a new trend where the face masks have designs — quirky, cute Japanese designs. If no one has done it, then there’s a great idea for you.I like them, I suppose. In a way, it makes everyone look a little bit mysterious, and that is sort of interesting. - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Lights of Japan One evening I was walking around Roppongi, taking in all the sights. There doesn't seem to be a bad direction to go. Everything was alive and full of life.Getting into this particular position took a few Cirque de Soliel moves that no one was around to appreciate (or warn me against). There is a pedestrian set of stairs that blindly switchbacks its way up an outside drum-tower of sorts. I had a feeling that on top of this little tower would be a good vantage in this particular direction, which I had not seen, but I had mapped out in my brain. I did one of those moves like children do when they work their way up a doorframe -- but I did it in a narrow stairwell. It got me to the top, which was extra-difficult with the tripod! I ended up with a clean view of everything. But then, only then, did I start to wonder how the heck I was going to get back down.I waited for a nice-looking stair-walker to pass by underneath, and then I handed down my camera before performing an unceremonious jump/fall.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Girl in Japan While walking down a busy street in Kyoto, most of the people were in regular clothes. And, by "regular clothes", I mean that the Japanese are often quite stylish dressers. There is something unique about the Japanese style that varies from other Asian cultures. They have a different kind of fashion sense, and it's usually very smart. They dress in a lot of layers, fine cloths, nice textures, and somewhat fanciful. Maybe you know what I mean.On occasion, I would see traditional girls wearing kimonos, drifting in and out of various shops. This girl was taking small steps while leaving the shop,- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Kimono Under the Cherry Trees It was my second time to Kyoto, but my fourth time to Japan. I started to become more accustomed to the times of day and the comings and goings of the ladies in kimonos. You can see them most any time of the day or not, but they flood out of every crevice around this time of night. The pink cherry blossoms made everything seem like it was right out the days of the shogun.I shot this with my second camera - the D3S that I had across my chest. My main camera is always the D3X on a tripod, and I was getting a lot of night photography shots. But I had my D3S with a 50 prime ready to capture things like this. Another nice advantage is that it seems to make the trees feel a bit more soft. There is another soft aspect to the colors - these prime lenses capture the tones in a very soft way.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Creepy Green Stairs Why are the stairs green in this? Anyone, Anyone? Bueller? Voodoo economics is the answer.Instead of answering directly, I'll let you clever readers figure out the answer and put it down in the comments... I have faith in you guys to figure it out!This was taken in Kyoto, Japan on a rainy evening. This is one of the main temples that stay open late into the night. It's one of my favorite times to come, because the crowds are gone and everything is extra-eerie. It makes it even more special while I'm listening to my special playlists on my iPod. It really gets me in the mood to make these sorts of shots.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Young Schoolgirl Returning Home in Tokyo One thing I recommend to travelers as they go from point A to point B in an unpredictable manner. Whenever I want to hit an exact location, I tell the taxi to drop me off a few kilometers from the destination. Either that, or I exit the subway early. I then meander my way from street to street and feel my way to the final location. Usually, by taking these unpredictable paths, I end up seeing a lot of things that would have been left unseen.That is how I found this little schoolgirl in Tokyo. I ended up on a busy street in the late afternoon, just as kids were running back to their homes.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Gentle Path to the Beyond


The little train that carried me into Hakone started winding through misty mountains. The trees were thick and a fog was rolling in. I had a feeling that it would stay wet, moody, and fairly perfect. It had that heaviness that made you feel like it would remain like that for a few days, and it did.

Before I get on train rides, I have a wonderful but dangerous habit of loading up with pastries. Train stations seem to have nice little selections of all sorts of foreign twists on the usual subjects. And, since I consider myself an explorer, I thought it would be good to get a TON of pastries and try them all. It's very nice... sitting there... looking out the train window at a new land... rain falling... eating pastries... (and I'm only a little ashamed to say that, upon arrival, my pastry bag was empty.)

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(1302994397,'',XLarge,'',768,768);">The Gentle Path to the Beyond The little train that carried me into Hakone started winding through misty mountains. The trees were thick and a fog was rolling in. I had a feeling that it would stay wet, moody, and fairly perfect. It had that heaviness that made you feel like it would remain like that for a few days, and it did.Before I get on train rides, I have a wonderful but dangerous habit of loading up with pastries. Train stations seem to have nice little selections of all sorts of foreign twists on the usual subjects. And, since I consider myself an explorer, I thought it would be good to get a TON of pastries and try them all. It's very nice... sitting there... looking out the train window at a new land... rain falling... eating pastries... (and I'm only a little ashamed to say that, upon arrival, my pastry bag was empty.)- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Gentle Path to the Beyond


The little train that carried me into Hakone started winding through misty mountains. The trees were thick and a fog was rolling in. I had a feeling that it would stay wet, moody, and fairly perfect. It had that heaviness that made you feel like it would remain like that for a few days, and it did.

Before I get on train rides, I have a wonderful but dangerous habit of loading up with pastries. Train stations seem to have nice little selections of all sorts of foreign twists on the usual subjects. And, since I consider myself an explorer, I thought it would be good to get a TON of pastries and try them all. It's very nice... sitting there... looking out the train window at a new land... rain falling... eating pastries... (and I'm only a little ashamed to say that, upon arrival, my pastry bag was empty.)

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
See photo in original gallery.
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