Matsuri

 Matsuri (祭) is the Japanese word for a festival or holiday.

Matsuri is often based around one event, with food stalls, entertainment, and carnival games to keep people entertained.There are no specific matsuri days for all of Japan; dates vary from area to area, and even within a specific area. In the case of Japan House in UIUC, matsuri took place on May 6th. 

For those of you not familiar with Japan House at UIUC it is is a university teaching facility and the building is not normally open to the public because it is a classroom for students taking university courses in Japanese arts and aesthetics.

My goal for this excursion was to enjoy the blooms of the 50 cherry blossom trees adorning the Japanese garden on the premises. But unfortunately, even with the perfect timing for the festivities, mother nature decided to be in control. 

No blooms!

Consequently, I spent most of my time people watching and clicking.

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Details! Week 19

 "What do you see when you look at a photo? Chances are your eyes instinctively lock on to a small part of the image before looking at the whole. That's "Details" for you - zooming in on the tiny stuff that often goes unnoticed and capturing those hidden gems in your shots."

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 "This week's mission is to create food photographs that showcase the beauty, colors, and textures of a chosen dish."

I chose to play rather than showcase.

 

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International Fest

Lincoln Library, hosted the  International Fest last weekend. The purpose of this annual event was to celebrate the dynamic multiculturalism of the Springfield area. This was also an opportunity for me to carry my camera and take some impromptu or rather candid photos as I walked around the different infromational tables and learned about some of the different cultures that are presently residing in this city.

I was totally taken by this "magical" exercise book. According to the lady explaining to me, this book, an eco-friendly reusable no ink Chinese Calligraphy exercise book, while very expensive, has become extreemly popular.  It is not used in the classrooms because of its high cost, but those who can afford it swear by it. No more reems of paper being wasted. The caligraphy brush is dipped into water, then a word is written in each of the  practice areas. Once the "ink" has dried, the word dissapears allowing the writer to practice the technique again. 

 

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