Shibuya Sakuragaoka

I've shot around here before, but I always have trouble finding shots that I haven't seen already. And Shibuya Sakuragaoka is a fairly popular place.

Located almost right next to Shibuya Station, it's an easily accessible tourist spot in Tokyo. Especially Sakura Hill during cherry blossom season because they set up those lanterns, light up the line of cherry blossom trees at night, and usually have a sakura festival.

I decided to bring my tripod and do a long exposure, but I couldn't get it the way I wanted without lowering my iso to the extended base of 50 and closing my aperture down to f16+.

The next day, I knew it was going to rain in the evening so I tried again, this time bringing my ND filters with me. But not having too much experience shooting in the rain, the struggle of trying to keep my camera dry with winds pushing my umbrella around was too much for my two hands. I went for a 10 stop filter mid way through my shoot. It was actually a little too strong, but without direct cover, I couldn't be bothered to walk over to shelter to put on a new filter again.

But despite the struggle, ultimately I like the way this one turned out.

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