Let’s not speak of love, but of warmth and passion; of a crowded city and the young looking for private space to be together. The nights are humid and hot. Pocket parks. The water. And here and there pairs.

I was in the Sakuragicho area yesterday evening with camera and tripod to take those long exposures I enjoy. You can’t see it with the unaided eye, but in the distance the red haze from Tokyo ricochets through the clouds casting a heated backdrop for these young couples. Looking back towards Sakuragicho there were, here and there, benches. And in the cool florescent light warmth.

(There is minimal editing in these photos. The long exposure has shown me that so much of the world we live in really is painterly, but we’re perhaps too digitized to see it. True, the camera has time to take in and hold more light. However, the next time your out in the evening stop and study the light reflected off the world around you. With the right mindset you’ll see the world painted by light.)

Click the photo for the larger image.