When in Kyoto for the fall...
It’s best to resign yourself to the masses. Everyone has come to admire the fall colours. There is no escaping that you are part of the hordes as well.
You do your best to crop the humans out. This is your first attempt.
Your second is more successful. Now you can look back at this and imagine yourself in perfect solitude with the trees.
You try to make the inevitable a part of your photographs.
Sometimes you turn your camera onto the people instead, because this is who you are too.
It makes for a surreal trip. Your favourite photos make you feel as if nature has chosen to bless you (and only you) with its beauty. There is an illusion of the trees and you in silent communion. No one else intrudes.
In reality, there were always more people than trees.
Perhaps fall in Kyoto is when the trees watch us instead, as we stream past them like so many ants.