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“Through the Lens”, Fujingahou Magazine, April, 2018
'Through the Lens', Fujingaho Magazine, February, 2018
Photos and text: Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado
English Translation: Asia Club, a WBSJ Volunteer Group (YOKOYAMA Kazuko, KASE Tomoko)
Spring is a season of beautiful flowers. Intending to show you some photos of birds with flowers, I searched through the bird photos I have taken only to find a few of them. The birds in the photos flying to cherry blossoms for nectar in particular were all Japanese White-eyes and Brown-eared Bulbuls showing all in spring. Whenever I went out to photograph birds in other seasons and came across with brilliantly blooming flowers, I wished with sigh any other birds might come to perch there, but basically no birds appeared. While we have the old expression “flowers, birds, winds and moon” as well as beautiful drawings of flowers and birds, why, in reality, do we seldom witness them together? I have embraced this question these several years, so I’ve tried to put it into writing this time.

Noticing that there are less birds gathering around flowers in Japan, I have re-acknowledged the magnificence of our nature; that is the four seasons and birds living in such an environment. Japan is located to the east of Eurasia, lying long from north to south with as many as 3000 islands. It is an important place for migrant birds to winter, breed and stop over. That is why we can watch various birds in any season. The only concern I have felt through the lens these few years is the gradual change in those seasons. I suspect summer and winter have become longer, and spring and autumn, shorter. I hope to observe continuously how birds react to this situation.
What made me aware that birds do not flock around flowers all through a year was my desire to take both in one photo. Drawings of birds and flowers are just drawings to express the charm of the season in one scroll as beautifully as possible. Photography stands on different points. I would like to continue to take photos in one place and another, looking forward to encountering any new findings at any time.