Rajs’ Blossoms

Nature is always a popular photography subject. It is the one thing that does not complain when the picture is taken. Many photographers use nature as their subject in their photos. Jake Rajs understands this in the book titled, Cherry Blossoms. I was given this book as birthday present last year. This is book with nothing but photographs of cherry blossoms. I love them all dearly, but the picture on page thirty-one captures the cherry blossom in its true beauty.

Rajs’ work has been in Esquire, Photo, Travel and Leisure, Readers’ Digest, GEO, Camera 35, and many other magazines. The style of the photograph looks rather natural. There are no special effects to it. Rajs just gives the viewer the picture just as it is. Throughout the whole book, Rajs’ photographs so cherry blossoms at different times of days and around the world. Page thirty-one’s picture does not stray from that style. The goal of the book was to just show the natural beauty of the cherry blossoms on each page. For that, special effects and heavy duty editing are not needed. The only thing that keeps the image from looking fake is the hanging branches in the tree. Rajs could have made them look nicer with Photoshop, but he chose to leave them in. He could have edited out the shrine entrance or brightened up the red to make it look brand new. Again, those actions would rob the photograph of its natural quality that Rajs was aiming for when he took the picture. In the end, this photo did not need any heavy editing. Rajs just simply let the photo be in all of its original, uncomplicated glory.

I can tell that this photograph was done by a professional. If an amateur took this, the photo would look mediocre. Rajs had to have used to tripod to take this picture. Maybe, he used a digital camera as well. Either way, the quality of the picture looks almost too real. The photo looks rather simple like I said before. There are no people in the main focus of the picture. They would seem to distract from the whole theme of nature in the photograph. However, I see two people hidden on in the lower left background. At first glance, they cannot be seen. The cherry trees overpower them automatically. Rajs could have gone to Photoshop and made the people in the background disappear. However, that would prove to be not needed since the trees are grabbing the viewer’s eye with its lovely light pink blossoms. Speaking of which, because the trees are the subject of the photograph, they take up most of the picture. He seems to have focused the camera close enough for the trees to be big enough to accomplish that. If it was zoned out any further, we would have gotten more of the landscape itself. Overall, the set up for the picture was a well-spent gamble.

I love the whole book of cherry blossoms because I love everything about Japan. It was almost hard to narrow it down to one picture. Page thirty-one just happened to catch my eye and random. I can tell this one picture was taken in Japan by the shrine entrance on the right. The photograph looks rather standard. The focuses seem to be the tree and shrine entrance. The light looks standard; I would say that the picture was taken in morning to afternoon in Japan. Like I said before, the picture is simple and just lets the cherry trees show off their natural beauty. The white-pink color just hypnotizes the viewer into their beauty. Anyone that views this picture just cannot look away. Rajs pictures of the cherry blossoms show the whole world one Japan’s most prized treasures through its lenses.

Nature is always a popular photo subject. Rajs gives the reader that with his book of cherry blossoms. With his skills behind the camera, the blossoms pull the viewer in and never lets them go.

Works Cited

Rizzoli. Cherry Blossoms. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. 300 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010. 2006

Rajs, James. Jake Rajs

<http://www.jakerajs.com>