I thought it would be easy to shoot a few photos of the Geisha girls around Kyoto, but I was way off on that one. The Lonely Planet guide made it sound easy and even pointed out a few streets to go looking for Geisha. When I got there it was a full-on Paparazzi scene with documentary film makers, international news crews and tourists alike trying to capture a shot of the elusive Geisha. Geisha girls have been caught between tradition and controversy of late with many outside of Japan opposed to the young girls entertaining men. More recently, modern Japan is starting to question the tradition.
I waited awhile and one snuck out like Julia Roberts in Malibu and then disappeared again. I remember thinking how young the girl looked – maybe 13? You can see in a photo above the film crew shooting one of the more famous Geisha girls as she avoided attack in the street and then disappeared behind an ornate wooden gate. I thought the whole thing sucked and decided to go see and enjoy Kyoto and shoot what inspired me.
About a week later my wife suggested we go up into the surrounding hills of Kyoto where we could find some local Japanese food. I was game and so we put our six month old son in the buggy and set off on another adventure. Japan is stunning, and walking around Kyoto was one of the most amazing travel experiences I have ever had. When we arrived in the neighborhood I saw a brightly dressed girl down the street and thought, “Whoa that looks like a Geisha girl..cool..” So I walk down there with my camera still in the bag and talked to some of them with hand signals and they were more than happy to have me take a few photos. I took several posed shots and then decided I would back away and let them do their thing, so I could get some more natural photos. There was no one else around and after awhile I packed my camera up and went and had dinner with my wife and son. What a great day that was!
My main focus of the Japan trip was a wedding I was shooting, but I also got to shoot ‘what inspired me’. You can see my Japan images from Tokyo and Kyoto aptly named Tokyoto here.
