Just for Fun No C&C will be given: Hiroshima, Japan

[Damien Paul]

This thread will be updated, as I am here for the next few days.

Just got in and my hotel room is directly opposite the Peace Park and A-bomb Dome - went for a wander just before:

A couple of perspectives of the A-Bomb Dome:

Damien Igoe: A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima

Damien Igoe: Past and Present, Hiroshima​

More coming...

 

[Rachel Foster]

I'm glad the ruin was left as a reminder of what bombs do. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dark days in history (everyone please note: I'm not saying anything about right or wrong: Just that it was a tragic event in a tragic time).

 

[Damien Paul]

Yes, it is a testament to the waste of lives, of culture, of potential from war.

One true story I read when I first moved to Japan, was the story about the schoolgirl Sadako Sasaki - who died t the age of 12 as a result of radiation induced leukhaemia when she was 12.

Before she died, she endeavoured to fold 1000 paper cranes following the ancient Japanese belief that if you do, your wish will be granted - she only made it to 644... her classmates made 1000 and buried them with her.

Every year, students and teachers (such as myself) fold as many paper cranes as we can - literally millions are folded from all over Japan and sent to the Children's Memorial in the Hiroshima Peace Park, in memory of Sadako and all the other children lost:

Damien Igoe: Forever Young - Fly free Sadako​

I'll admit, to stand there before the memorial was far more moving than I expected - I am not ashamed to admit that I shed a tear.

 

[Rachel Foster]

I can only look at this for the briefest of moments. I'll try to come back to it at a later time.

 

[Larry Brown]

Thank you Damien for posting these images! Combined with your narration I have found your series here thought provoking and moving, especially the story of Sadako Sasaki and the paper cranes. Please post more when possible as I have enjoyed these so much.

Larry

 

[Damien Paul]

Thank you, Larry - tomorrow, I will be going to the Peace Park and the Museum (also across the road from my hotel).

I was reflecting on the Memorial and the saying underneath, fro the children to the world:

"This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world."

I think the world ought to listen to the cry and prayers of the ghosts of the young who have fallen, not just here in Hiroshima, but all around the world. Does the world dare not listen to this plea of the innocent?

To say Hiroshima and Nagasaki are devoted to peace is an understatement. Monuments such as this:

Damien Igoe: One enduring wish​

give testimony to that cry from those who fell before their time.

 

[Larry Brown]

You are welcome Damien! And another image of interest and your words have provoked more thoughts on the subject.......and a prayer......

Larry

 

[fahim mohammed]

Damien...a poignant capture and a lesson from history. Unfortunately history seems to be only for the
libraries' collections.

Regards.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Damien...a poignant capture and a lesson from history. Unfortunately history seems to be only for the
libraries' collections.

Regards.

Fahim,

But what is the lesson? To me it's not clear and perhaps the Japanese script articulates that.

Asher

 

[Damien Paul]

The leson is about the use of nuclear weapons in particular, but the wastage that occurs in war. The children's prayer articulates the message here.

In a couple of hours I will go to the museum and Peace Park.

 

[Asher Kelman]

The leson is about the use of nuclear weapons in particular, but the wastage that occurs in war. The children's prayer articulates the message here.

In a couple of hours I will go to the museum and Peace Park.

Damien,

What's the lesson about Nuclear weapons that's different from 20 million being killed in the German's attack on Russia without nuclear weapons? How is it different from Hindus being locked in a temple and burnt alive? I really do not understand how nuclear death and fire is any different than death in the vast stretches of frozen lands surrounding Russia or the killing fields in Burma or massacres in Darfur.

I personally just see a fitting but sad memorial of a tragedy brought on my man's hubris. There's no lesson articulated that I know about that has meant anything. It's a warning and a reminder. However it does not teach us how to behave.

Asher

 

[fahim mohammed]

It teaches us, or should, about the consequences of such actions. But as I said in the previous post..the
lessons that ought to be learnt are relegated to the pages in a history book adorning library shelves.

To re-enacted and re-written the next time.

 

[Damien Paul]

As a teacher, I know that a good and effective lesson coes from several parts, Hiroshima is part of the global lesson, of the necessity of peace, teaching the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. A warning and reminder such as this in Hiroshima is also termed a lesson by many teachers - but any debate on it is semantics, as I have found in many times in my 11 years as a teacher - this thread is about the sharing of this part of the world and the message/reminder/lesson/warning that Hiroshima presents.

Sadako's story (linked in one of the threads) is also a part of that lesson that does not occur in other battle zones, except for Nagasaki - the radiation legacy, which does continue today.

However, the memorial here does not set out to downplay any other tragedy of the kind, they are merely teaching their part of the lesson. The poem 'Hiroshima Child' by Nazim Hikmet here is global and temporal, particular the final verse.

There is also another lesson, look at the 2nd photo in the opening post - 'Past and Present', once again part of a lesson that is global and temporal - cities, lives, dreams and hope rise again.

My intention is to share the photos, hopefully they won't be buried in debate. More to come...

 

[Damien Paul]

Two quotes to consider - these are from the museum here, the first is from the late Pope John Paul II:

War is the mark of man,
War is the destruction of human life,
War is death,
To remember the past is to commit oneself to the future,
To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war,
To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace

also very poignantly, from the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial for the Atomic Bomb Victims:

Mourning the lives lost in the atomic bombing, we pledge to convey the truth of this tragedy throughout Japan and the world, pass it on to the future, learn the lessons of history, and build a peaceful world free from nuclear weapons.

Can we please steer away from discussions about semantics (lesson vs reminder etc) - that is a personal choice - and for Japan it means that they learned the lesson to be a nation of peace, not aggression. (Yes, they do admit their role fully here and everywhere).

I have more photos that I may include if we can steer back to the prurpose of this thread - me, just sharing my reflections and pictures of Hiroshima.

 

[Rachel Foster]

More photos, less sociology! I want photooooooooooooooooooooooooooos!

(With apologies to Asher, especially since I'm the forum's prime offender for engaging in philosophical/semantic sparring.)

 

[Asher Kelman]

Can we please steer away from discussions about semantics (lesson vs reminder etc) - that is a personal choice - and for Japan it means that they learned the lesson to be a nation of peace, not aggression. (Yes, they do admit their role fully here and everywhere).

Point well made! Then there was indeed a most sad lesson.

Asher

 

[Damien Paul]

To continue...

Today, before going out and about, I thought why not show you the view from my hotel room:

Damien Igoe: A room with a view​

Today, I went to the Museum - no photography allowed in there, but let me just say that the entire truth of what had happened was shown - in graphic detail. There were some photos taken within minutes of the bombing - remarkable considering that some were taken just a few kilometres of the hypocentre. I did cry when I read some of the accounts of how people survived the blast, but were cut down by radiation sickness.

Below is the Cenotaph - inside are the names of the 140,000+ lost - look through the Cenotaph and you'll see the Eternal Flame and the A-bomb Dome.

Damien Igoe: Cenotaph​

 

[Damien Paul]

A change of pace occurred this afternoon, when I went to the ancient island of Miyajima.

Miyajima was founded by a monk around 1200AD and still has all of its pristine forest intact.

The island also boasts large populations of pamphlet eating fearless wild deer and lunch stealing monkeys - the monkeys were hiding, but the deer were out and about.. and well, being lazy like these two:

Damien Igoe: Hard at work​

One of the remarkable sites in Miyajima is the Oh-Torii Gate:

Damien Igoe: Oh-Torii Gates, Miyajima, Japan​

At high tide, these gates have the appearance of floating.

Also a five storey pagoda:

Damien Igoe: Reaching for the heavens​

The view from the Shin-shi Lookout was amazing - straight into the Seto Sea (Inland Sea):

Damien Igoe: The Inland Sea​

One more day here... tomorrow I go to a hidden treasure, Iwakuni...

 

[Asher Kelman]

The view from the Shin-shi Lookout was amazing - straight into the Seto Sea (Inland Sea):

Damien Igoe: The Inland Sea​

There are so many wonderful images here. I am intrigued by the small piles of stones on the large boulders. Are these mini-shrines?

Asher

 

[Ken Tanaka]

Thank you for your photos, Damien. I've not visited Horoshima and also have not seen any very recent images of the city. I, too, am enoying your travel snaps! (I do expect to be in Japan sometime this year, but principally in Tokyo.)

The monuments are unquestionably solemn, sincere symbols in a country where symbols really have weight. The immediate devastation of those two bombs, which were firecrackers by today's measures, is hard to fathom. But, sentimentality aside, here are a couple of other items from the history of that time.

- These bombs certainly dissolved any remaining surrender reluctance in the Japanese high command. In the months up to that point they had been toying with conditionality. But they almost certainly would have surrendered soon anyway. The two a-bombs caused immense death and destruction, but the enormous fire bombing campaign conducted over Tokyo and other largely civilian populations had pretty much destroyed the country's will and means for any futher military campaigns. Those fire bombings may have killed as many people as the a-bombs, an were arguably every bit as horrific as the a-bombs. (You've got to see an incendiary bomb ignition to believe it.) There's quite a moving account of the Tokyo fire bombings online if you're interested.

- After the war, and during allied occupation, Hiroshima rebounded amazingly quickly, thanks, in great part, to the birth of a new and powerful black market. This also spawned the now legendary (and quite real) Yakuza (the Japanese version of the Mafia) which also played a back-handed role in rebuilding the country through the Korean War years and into the 1960's.

The history of the end or WWII, and its aftermath, tends to be written selectively with strongest plaudits to the victors. That's normal; it takes centuries for fair-eyed histories to be witten. The "A-Bomb Dome" (which was actually an industrial exposition hall designed by a Czech architect) is what both countries want you to remember. But the barbeque of Tokyo was, in many ways, more horrific and would probably have ended the War without nuclear deployment. But the U.S. had spent billions on the Manhattan Project, originally intended to obliterate Berlin. When that war ended before the bomb was ready the U.S. found itself with the biggest firecrackers in history and itchin' to light 'em.

That's the history.

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Damien

Thanks for sharing these pictures and your impressions of Tokyo. Having never visited Japan it's both interesting and educational.

Ken, again thanks for your investment in commenting here.

MIke

 

[Damien Paul]

Thank you all for the responses (Mike, it's actually Hiroshima )

Today, I went further afield to a place called Iwakuni - there is an US Air Force base near here as well as a Marines Corp. But, I came for the history - which involved a 6km walk, but it was worth it as you shall see.

The first thing is the Kintai Bridge, once only samurai and the lord would dare walk across, now everyone with an admission ticket can cross it:

Damien Igoe: Kintai Bridge​

I will post more when I get back to Tokyo tomorrow afternoon (local time)

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I will post more when I get back to Tokyo tomorrow afternoon (local time)

Hi Damien,

Just wanted to let you know that I'm enjoying your photos of the Japanese scenery and landmarks. The composition is not always great so, if you don't mind, I suggest to pay special attention to that if you want to promote the images from interesting to great.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Damien Paul]

Thank you for the feedback, Bart.

I know my photography will never be great and I only share them so people can see what I see, also to share a travelogue. I have always thought a 'great photo' was more subjective, a view of the individual looking at it. I would not even know where to start in terms of 'composition' - I just let the camera capture what I am seeing at that moment. (It is a somewhat a different story for when I am using the camera for my research)

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Thank you for the feedback, Bart.

I know my photography will never be great and I only share them so people can see what I see, also to share a travelogue.

Hi Damien,

Never say never ...

There are several components to great images, like being 'there' at the right moment, and composition certainly helps.

Parts of composition can be learned by looking at good examples, and analyzing why they work. Books have been written about the subject, and parts of composition are easy, once you know what to look for. Only a very small minority of people have absolutely no sense for esthetics, I've seen some interesting experiments about that. So, a sense for composition can usually be trained/developed.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Larry Brown]

I know my photography will never be great.....

Well Damien don't be so hard on yourself, not all good to great photographs follow the rules of composition. In fact there are times you throw out the rules and just get the shot. Yes it is true there are reasons to follow the rules and there are so many and when you multiply the possibilities it can be both confusing and frustrating to do so. Many here struggle with composition, just check out all the "critique" posts here as many are searching for the "magic" that seems to come from following the rules. Not all subjects can follow the rules but even using one can make make an image more appealing and draw the viewer in, triggering a response of "I like this photo".

As for your images here I find them pleasing and quite nice really. The bridge shot here is not bad IMO, could it be done better with better impact?, probably so, but how you would say? Maybe a different angle, framing using some of the rules of composition, different focal length, it could get endless to be sure but your images do have a lot going for them and document your travels just fine. Exposures seem fine, sharp and clear but there could always be improvements to be made as many of us here are for. I would say everyone here has struggled with composition, taken the same shots at some point in their photographic experience and I for one still do so my advice is don't become discouraged, think of it as a learning cycle and it will come I promise!

And Damien I am a 55 year old guy that has had a camera in my hand on and off since the 60's and have spent most of my life just shooting snapshots never caring about getting the framing/ composition right but have been happy for the most part but wanting to improve I have recently entered into a class on composition and has opened my eyes even more to the "mechanics" of getting a better image and maybe this old dog can learn some new tricks, so the journey continues....

I am going to post a link I found a while back that will give some info on composition and of course Google can be your friend too......here is the link ..

http://photoinf.com/

..and at the top of the page appears a quote from the great Ansel Adams.. "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." ...and his words here are a good thing to remember as you progress....

Larry

 

[Damien Paul]

Thank you for the link.

I'll see what I can learn - then I'll post the results when I can (could be a while as I am finishing my MSc and moving countries). I am still confused about the 'Critique Requested' and 'Just Sharing' (- i am probably being too literal in their meaning and just wanted to share this travelogue - largely complete now).

Enjoy the pics (for what they are worth) - see you soon

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I am still confused about the 'Critique Requested' and 'Just Sharing' (- i am probably being too literal in their meaning and just wanted to share this travelogue - largely complete now).

Hi Damien,

My bad. I just wanted to help. Thanks for sharing your images.

Cheers,
Bart

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thank you for the link.

I'll see what I can learn - then I'll post the results when I can (could be a while as I am finishing my MSc and moving countries).

It's only because folk here really are so intrigued with you wonderful pictures that they get enthused to give some pointers for improvement. That doesn't mean they don't find the pictures "good enough". On the contrary, everyone here really looks forward to more! you are taking us to places we have never visited and really this is important for us! Thanks for sharing your journeys. [/quote]

I am still confused about the 'Critique Requested' and 'Just Sharing'

So am I! We make the prefixes to accommodate different needs that arise. That doesn't mean we are being consistent or clear! The person requesting that prefix really mean, "Only nice comments please", but how do you say this? It's a gradual process to have useful prefixes.

We can discuss it separately. However, just sharing IS for exactly what you are doing! I hope the suggestions were not too much out of place. I feel they were given in a collegial way with an open heart and because you and your work are worth the attention. Look how much interest you have!

- i am probably being too literal in their meaning and just wanted to share this travelogue.

Hi Damien,

I hope you realize that the responses indicate how much you have stirred great interest in the monuments by these pictures here. Although these were "Just Sharing" the value to us was far greater. Thanks for giving us a glimpse into this important history and the sentiment for peace that resulted.

Asher

 

[Rachel Foster]

Asher has a point. Images that don't have value tend to just get ignored. The more comments, and ironically, critiques an image gets means the better it is to begin with.