This beautiful image of Tokyo tower was not planned at all. I was working a kilometer or so away from this vantage point, but didn’t even know I was near Tokyo tower until night fell and I began to see hints of the reflection of Tokyo tower on slivers of buildings between other buildings. I meandered through alleys and neighborhoods following the reflections till finally seeing Tokyo tower still a good kilometer away rise in the night sky in front of me over the roof tops. I just happened to pop out of the neighborhoods to find this full view and an intersection with a divider just wide enough for my camera to sit on a small tripod. I would set my camera down and return to the safety of the main sidewalk, as this is a busy street with fast traffic and large trucks. It was still nerve racking leaving my camera unattended in at the divider, especially when a large vehicle would block my view of it, but at the end of it, my camera came out of it without problems and with this wonderful image after it had started raining a bit.
At first I was let down, as I saw the rain on the front of the lens, and knew the image would be effected, however upon seeing the image on my monitor and showing it to other photographers in Japan whos opionns I greatly value, it was clear I had captured something special. The rain drops rather than detracting from the image give a warmth and mood to the image that is hard to put words to, but at the end of the day it is Wabi Sabi, the Japanese concept of beauty through imperfection!
All photos by T. Mellon, The artist behind all aspects of filmstudiojapan.com
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