Leica ☓ Monochrome ☓ Vintage lensGoing on a photo journey
Part 1 - Naritasan, Sawara
Before going on a photo journey, we want to plan well and bring our favorite equipment in a big camera bag. But in reality, we cannot always do that. So, I made the simplest plan for a day-trip with one camera and one lens. I chose my the LEICA M Monochrom Typ246 that I bought by the never-never 24 installment payments (just finished 12 payments). For an article of Photo Yodobashi, I should introduce the latest body and lens, but in this section, I set the rule to use only vintage lenses for fun. Other rules include: carry only one camera (with a lens), not carry a bag, and take trains as a means of transportation. This time, I used the JR Seishun 18 Ticket, special discount ticket for summer issued between 7/20 and 9/10. It was drizzling on the day of the trip, but I can take something different under such weather. I bought the ticket in Shinjuku Station at 10:00 and headed to Naritasan and Sawara town.
( Photography / Text : Naz )
After getting off the train at Kinshi-cho, I was lucky enough to catch the "Airport Narita rapid express." Because it kindly stopped for 8 minutes at Chiba Station, I ran to the stand in the concourse in order to get this "Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) Bento" made by Manyoken. Whenever I come to Chiba Station, I buy it because it only costs 500 yen while many bentos are sold for over 1,000 yen these days. The amount of food is light enough to be finished within 30 minutes until I get to Narita Station. I was ashamed to eat in the long seat, so I sat on a cross seat which adds to the traveling feeling. I enjoyed it along with the country view of Hokuso region.
* I also carry a compact camera for recording purpose. You know, it’s hard to do it only with monochrome!
As a native Tokyoite, I think of "New Year’s visit to the shrine/temple" whenever I hear Naritasan. According to sources, the number of people visiting Naritasan in New Year is second-largest after Meiji-Jingu. I had been to Narita Airport for many times, but had never gotten off the train at Narita Station to visit Naritasan before. The front approach starting from the modern rotary of the station still has the historical ambience of a shrine town, and it’s a great spot to walk around. I took this image in front of a sake storehouse. The soft rendition of the vintage Elmar matches the rainy scene.
The front approach that continues for a few hundred meters becomes downhill in the middle and reaches to the gate at the end of the downhill. I could relax because the precinct is wide, beautiful, and not crowded on a rainy weekday with rain. I saw many foreign visitors as well presumably because of the location. I bought a lucky charm for health as a souvenir for my family.
The best part of monochrome photography is to capture light and shadow instead of colors. Unlike technology in digital photography such as HDR which captures just about everything, monochrome photography abstracts subjects by removing colors from the scene. It’s like we shoot by subtracting instead of adding. I know my shots are dark, but it’s because of the weather. Don't attempt to print them out as they consume too much black ink!
Because I went down a hill, I must climb it on the way back. The smell of grilled eel is too tempting to refuse. I had to stop by at an eel restaurant at the approach even though I had just eaten the pork cutlet bento…
The old restaurant Kawatoyo Honten was packed with so many worship-visitors. After I bought a thick meal ticket, I waited for a while. At last, the "unajyu," grilled eel over rice in a lacquered box, has come with Japanese pepper to spread happiness in my mouth. The special "sauce," which has been topped up since the restaurant was established, isn’t too dense and brings out the taste of the soft steamed eel. Although eel is expensive food even for an old man, I was happy with the small size because of the pork cutlet and I could save some money. FYI: from 7/15 to 8/28/2016, they hold a stamp-rally event "Narita Eel Festival." I think it will sever as a perfect excuse to have eel.
Kawatoyo Honten (main restaurant)
386 Nakamachi, Narita-City, Chiba-Prefecture
http://www.unagi-kawatoyo.com
I was impressed with their skills to put eel on skewers. I took this shot after I got their permission. In such an occasion, we want to be careful not to stand in someone’s way.
Because traditional Japanese houses have many black parts, it’s easy to get shadow clipping particularly in fine weather. So, I welcome weak lighting condition like this. This vintage screw mount lens can’t get any closer than 1m. But as a result, the overall optical performance is wonderful at even around the minimum focal distance as you see. Though not an all-rounder, it shoots almost like a modern lens at F5.6.
And, to Sawara
A 30-minute train ride from Narita Station took me to Sawara, known as "little Edo" or "little Kyoto" because of the old streets built between late Edo and early Showa period. This is the only "Groups of Traditional Buildings" in Chiba Prefecture. The size of this area is even wider than the famous Kawagoe also known as "little Edo." Yet, it’s less crowded and more suitable for taking time shooting photography.
This shot looks really dark, but I meant it to balance the highlight of the sky and the shadow of the stone quay. The actual scene was a bit more brighter, but I could emphasize the drizzles better this way. And don’t worry about the willow tree on the left. :-)
I figure this area has always been fertile because there’re many old streets along the river and historical buildings remain across the whole town. This is a shot of Yokuraya Earthen Storehouse built 127 years ago (in Meiji 22). People used to make soy sauce here, but now they have events and concerts taking advantage of its wide size about 800 square meters.
There’s also the former house of Tadataka Inoh (known for completing the first map of Japan). According to the guideboard, he used to live here from 17 to 50 years old, before he left for the survey. They also have the Inoh Tadataka Museum. Unfortunately, I was late to visit there (opening hours: between 9:00 and 16:30).
In order to replenish lost sugar after circling the town about two times, I dropped in for walnut shaved ice with brown sugar milk at a sweet parlor "Inae." I was impressed by the large amount of the shaved ice and the wonderful combination of slight sweetness, soft ice, and the aroma of walnut. I had a great time savoring the historical/modern interior and the wonderful view of the garden.
Inae
I-511 Swara, Katori-City, Chiba-Prefecture
http://sawara-inae.com (Japanese)
I left the parlor to find it was still light. So, I went to a public bath called "Kanehirayu" which was a few minutes walk from "Inae." Though it is small, it’s over 100 years old and has a nice atmosphere. I couldn’t take photos because there were other customers (you can search it on the web), but the entrance fee is only 300 yen, and I really enjoyed the temperature which was a little hot. After taking bath, I made another circuit of darkening town slowly to cool myself down. It was the magic time, the best time for monochrome photography.
At the end of the trip
I returned to Sawara Station around 18:30 when it was dark and the town was lighted. I was a bit shocked to find that the next local train won’t leave until 19:21, and I’d arrive at Shinjuku after 21:30 even on the shortest route. To enjoy the good 3 hours, I bought a can of beer and some dry food at the store in front of the station and sat down on the cross seat. After reading and sleeping, I finally returned home around 22:00. Though I traveled for only about 12 hours, I was happy to be able to take many shots and eat delicious food. My smartphone says I walked about 11.72km by taking 16,890 steps. I go to many places for location and location hunting, but I don’t remember when I traveled with only one camera by train last time. Anyway, I believe that the combination of Leica, monochrome, and a vintage lens spiced up my trip.
My M Monochrome Type246 I bought 18 months ago has taken almost 7000 images. The exclusive monochrome sensor without color filter realizes fine and sharp rendition at pixel level because it doesn’t require demosaicing. Normally, I’d pick a latest lens to take full advantage of the sensor. But it’s also so much fun to shoot with a vintage lens because it generates rich and deep shadow tone.
The lens I picked this time was the Leitz Elmar 3.5cm F3.5 made in 1946. This tiny lens just turned 70 years old, and it looks so classic with the dedicated hood FOOKH which costs more than 10,000 yen! Yes, I have a Leica fever. Just like famous collapsible Elmar, it has the hard-to-slide inner aperture ring close to the front element. But, it’s not a big issue. I set it around F4 or F5.6 anyway because F3.5 max aperture isn’t large enough to enjoy bokeh, and the flare is horrible at F3.5. In the film age, it was hard to shoot such a slow lens after the sunset. But now, we can enjoy it with digital cameras by increasing the sensitivity as they still take excellent images even at a high sensitivity.
( 2016.08.04 )
