Kintai Bridge - Photoshoot

i've been gleaning wisdom from a local professional photographer/military spouse who offers photography classes as part of her business. this past weekend i joined her intro to photography course and it took place at our local scenic hot spot, the kintai bridge over our nashiki river that leads to the inland sea. around the bridge is kikkou park, a famous place to visit during the cherry blossom festival in the spring and during the fall when the japanese maples turn colors. above the bridge lies iwakuni castle, and you can ride a tram to the top of mt. yokoyama to visit the castle (can't wait!). the bridge is less than 20 minutes from our home and is very famous - situated under iwakuni castle, it was built in 1673. the following year it was wiped out by a flood and then portions have been rebuilt/maintained periodically since with no damage for over 200 years. in 1953 it was wiped out by typhoon flood waters (but they had stopped maintaining the bridge during the war and gravel was taken from the river bed to build our base) and rebuilt, using metal nails for the first time in its history.  it was recently restored in 2001. its five wooden arches with stone bases is absolutely beautiful. i learned so much during our photography class instruction and really enjoyed playing with my camera's manual settings and editing the images later at home. i can't help myself, the black and white is so gorgeous on these images and i love the way the aging and water staining pops into focus. enjoy!

iwakuni castle atop mt. yokoyama, view from far side of nashiki river at base of kintai bridge

danielle - our photography guru for the day

my friend caroline took the class with me - love how she was getting the best angle from inside someone's boat!

you can see the tram lift going to the top - can't wait to take the kids up that ride! what a view!

this incredible flower is hot pink - and softball sized!