Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network conference held in Seattle, Washington. While I was there, I took advantage of the public transportation system and got to see a bit of the city. The Seattle Japanese Garden was less than 3mi away from the conference and was full of beautiful fall foliage! I paid $8 to enter, and was greeted with such a serene experience.
Stone Lanterns
Throughout the garden are different types of beautiful stone lanterns. The one pictured below is called a sanko-doro. The windows are designed to represent the sun and the moon on the front and back, respectively, and the stars on the sides. These are usually placed near water, as seen in this first shot.
When framing the shot, I wanted to keep the lantern on the left in the foreground, while keeping the beautiful fall foliage in the background. The partially frozen koi pond reflected the trees nicely. In retrospect, I probably should have increased the exposure compensation and reduced the brightness in post to bring out the lantern.
Koi Pond
On the opposite side of the koi pond from the stone lantern pictured above there’s a hill that led to this beautiful view. Most of the trees are Japanese maples with the most vibrant Fall colors.
Walking a bit further around the pond led to this canopy area.
Floor
I love photographing leaves on the floor. There’s just something so calming about the scene to me. I stopped down the aperture to f/2.8 for this one to add a bit of depth to the image.
This last shot is my favorite of the set. Just look at those contrasting colors! I added a bit of a vignette in post processing to add to the mood that this image invoked for me when I took it. When framing the shot, I stopped down to f/2.8 but stood back a bit to get more of the scene in focus. I wanted the background only blurred and love how it adds layers to the shot.
A Bit of History of the Seattle Japanese Garden
Although the conception for the Seattle Japanese Garden began in 1909, realization of the idea had to wait until World War II ended when political and racial tensions eased. In 1957, the nonprofit membership organization Arboretum Foundation began raising funds for the garden and chose Kiyoshi Inoshita and Juki Iida to lead the design. Both born in the late 1800s!
The design consisted of 37 blueprints for an Edo-style stroll garden, characterized by large strolling gardens with ponds, small islands, and little hills to give great vantage points on a circular trail. Two other characteristics of Edo-style gardens are a tea house and tea garden. Fun fact: The Seattle Japanese Garden holds tea ceremonies on certain Fridays and Sundays!
Construction of the Seattle Japanese Garden started in 1959 and was finished within four months, opening for the first time to the public on June 5th, 1960. During the opening ceremony, designer Juki Iida noted the following in his diary:
“Far more difficult than making a Japanese garden is maintaining it. I hope for years to come you will carry out my instructions and take loving care of it.”
Juki Iida
I think they’ve done a great job maintaining it for over 60 years!