Relaxing Street Photography in Chiyoda City, Japan at Cherry Blossom Season
When I first visited Tokyo, I had a plan to visit popular wards with high-rise buildings like Shinjuku and Shibuya. However, I also left plenty of days and times to explore lesser known wards and discover new destinations that I might not have thought to search for.
One of the wards that I visited during my Tokyo trip was Chiyoda City. In this blog post, I will be sharing my experience in this ward and some photos I took during my morning during a street photography session in the spring of 2024, near the end of peak cherry blossom season.
Arriving AT Chiyoda City, JAPAN
By my third full day in Tokyo, I had already done street photography at sunset and at night in Shibuya. I also visited Ueno Park the night before (where the cherry blossom festival is held). While looking up locations to visit in the morning, I came across the Imperial Palace East Gardens and decided to visit. Unfortunately the location was closed, but I took the opportunity to explore the area and enjoy a morning of street photography.
While walking to the garden entrance, I came across a small alleyway with a few shops, which was a nice way to start off the day. I really like the different textures of the two wooden buildings and the slight touch of greenery in each of the photos.
GREENERY AND HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS
Walking towards the garden, I took some photos of the river that surrounds the palace along with the trees and high-rise buildings. While I don’t think the composition of these photos are anything special, I do like the mix of different elements in the photo - urban architecture mixed with nature. I wish there had been some sunlight just to add some more contrast in the photos, but the entire day was overcast.
For these photos, I used a mix of the Sigma 35mm & 85mm ART prime lenses just to try and get a variety of different shots. I usually use these lenses for my street photography as I think they pair well together. Looking back, I think it would have been beneficial to try and get a much wider lens and experiment in getting as much of the environment as possible. However, my 24-70mm G-Master Sony lens stayed attached to my Sony a7S III to get B-roll footage throughout the trip.
CAPTURING CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN CHIYODA CITY
What I assume were cherry blossoms were well past full bloom, but capturing these colorful trees was still one of my favorite things to do when I was exploring the Chiyoda City ward. While I’m not a fan of the poles sticking out in front of the tree, I really liked the color of the tree and using it as a background for people to pass by. It adds something
One of my favorite photos during this time at Chiyoda City was a woman walking by with an umbrella and a tote bag. I find accessories like an umbrella add something intriguing to street photography. But maybe part of that is also because I don’t see people carrying umbrellas often in Los Angeles so it’s a pretty rare occurrence for me.
I think the cherry blossoms (if that is what they were) added a nice pop of color to what was a pretty moody morning.
BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES IN CHIYODA CITY
I didn’t spend very long in Chiyoda City because the garden was closed, but I wanted to capture some of the bridges and overpasses in the area. I enjoy photographing architectural structures, no matter how small, over bodies of water. As I mentioned before, the mix of urban architecture and nature makes for an interesting shot. You can see some of the petals from the cherry blossoms floating in the river, which I think adds a nice touch to the image and makes it look more aesthetic.
Although I’m not a huge fan of the composition in these photos, I like the touch of blue on the rails over the grey color of the bridge. The addition of the cars also makes the scene seem a lot busier than it actually was on that day.
As far as the overpass, I actually like that there weren’t a lot of cars driving by. While it would definitely make the scene look bustling and busy, I think the lack of cars fits the moody image and the symmetry of the two lines in the overpass fit nicely in the image.
BUS STATION ENTRANCE
Before leaving the area, I saw that there was a small metro station entrance nearby. Later on in the day, I noticed there were a few people riding their bikes on the pathway. I think the Sigma 35mm lens was probably the best option to capture the image. I was able to get my shutter speed high enough to capture the motion of the biker and still get a wide enough shot to show both the biker and the metro station entrance.
I’m not a fan of the caution tape wrapped around the branch and I wish I had sat down to try and get more of a low angle of the biker. But I’m still overall satisfied with the final images.
EDITING THE PHOTOS
When it came to editing, I didn’t want to dramatically change the colors in any of the photos. I like the pops of green that are present in the images. I warmed the tone for most of the photos by bringing up the temperature just a little bit, but otherwise I wanted to keep the post-production in the photos minimal.
FINAL WORDS
As a travel and street photographer, I think it’s important to not just explore different cities and wards that you originally plan on visiting, but to try exploring off-the-beaten path destinations. Even if you aren’t able to do a planned activity (like visiting the Imperial Gardens), it’s great to adapt and take whatever photos you can while in the area.
It was a quiet morning at first, but as the day got a bit busier, I was able to capture subjects that added a bit of interest in the composition. I like the contrast between the natural elements of this ward with the business suits some of the people had on.
Tokyo is a photogenic city (especially for street photography) and there is always something interesting around each corner. Although this visit to Chiyoda City wasn’t what I was expecting, I’m more than happy I got the opportunity to take photos in this spot and it’s a location that I would love to visit again the next time I go to Tokyo.
