Feb 05 2010 | hugh ashton |
ume is usually translated as “plum”, but apparently these trees (梅) are closer to apricots than plums, if you want to be pedantic about it. They’re the first splash of color after New Year, and they make you feel that spring is in the air. The skies are blue, the air is dry, and the smell of these things is heavenly. Then it starts to snow… and you know winter is still with us. But ume remain as a symbol of the time of year, and in many ways are preferable to the rather more vulgar cherry blossoms. Apparently at one time hanami (flower viewing) referred to ume, and not cherry.
This is, of course, two photos (of different ume trees) with some elementary Photoshopping. The sky is untouched, though – it really was that color that day.
Hugh has lived in Kamakura for the past 10 years, and in Japan (Hamamatsu, Mitaka) for twice as long as that. He has always taken photographs, but the relatively recent purchase of an Olympus DSLR and some lenses reminded him (i) how expensive a hobby photography can be and (ii) how much fun it is to go out and record images of the surrounding world. Some more pictures can be
seen here.
When he is not taking photographs, Hugh sells his writing (and sometimes photos) for magazines, for companies in the banking and financial services world, and teaches a few classes on presentation skills at a university in Tokyo. He has recently published his first novel, Beneath Gray Skies, and is working on the publication of another one (working title Sharpe Practice). In his spare time, he may be sometimes discovered playing Dobro (resonator guitar) in a variety of unlikely locations in the Shonan and Tokyo areas.
