Playing Among the Rice Paddies

I went for a drive into the mountains the other day, with Anthony, Nils Ferry, and Nils' son Greg. It was the first time I'd seen Nils since he was my tour guide around Kyoto's Miyagawa-cho area earlier in the summer, about the same time that Anthony last saw three-year-old Greg (when they checked out some big mushrooms together).

Our goal was a photo hunt of some terraced rice paddies that I'd seen the previous day, but the kids having fallen asleep during the drive, we first had to wake them up...

Snoozin' -- Otsu, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/20 sec handheld, f/7.1, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Snoozin'

(Nils has an almost identical photo on his blog.)

Just out of the air-conditioned car, the kids were cool and fresh...


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/160 sec, f/8, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
“Before”

It was unmercifully hot, with the sound of sizzling flesh any time bare skin was exposed to the unrelenting sunshine. I just wanted to wilt, but the kids, of course, ran and played with abandon until the heat started to wear on them as well....

30 Minutes Later -- Otsu, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/640 sec, f/4, ISO 250 — map & image datanearby photos
30 Minutes Later

It was a hilly area, so the rice paddies made terraces with well-groomed berms in between. Our real goal were the ones across the street from where we parked, but the kids first went running off to some closer ones....


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/90 sec, f/8, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Nils, Anthony, and Greg
(all out of focus, sorry)

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/180 sec, f/8, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Greg Doing His “Scary Monster Face”
at his dad's request

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190mm — 1/125 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Any Occasion is an Occasion to Run
Short Break -- Otsu, Shiga, Japan -- Copyright 2007 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/320 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Short Break

The shutter speed of the picture above is 1/320th of a second, which is probably how long they both sat there like that. I got one picture, but they got up and ran some before I could move for a better shot. Instructions from both daddies to go back and sit down went unheeded.


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125mm — 1/350 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Approach With Caution!
(Anthony found a small mushroom)

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/4000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Vistas

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Bird
(a crane or heron or something)

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
If I were a kid, I'm sure I'd think that
It'd be fun to roll down that bank

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 82mm — 1/90 sec, f/14, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Lap #72

Once we were done here, we rested in the shade a bit, then headed over to see the paddies we originally came for, but I'll leave those for a later post...


One comment so far...

I bet the kids recapped their car snooze on the way back after all that running. My favorite photo is “approach with caution”. How cute!

How was the mosquito situation? I thought there was standing water with rice paddies, and that + heat = loss of about 3 pints of blood per minute if you are not absolutely slathered with some nuclear powered anti-bug stuff.

No mosquitoes at all, they would have been fried. —Jeffy

— comment by Marcina on September 8th, 2007 at 6:15am JST (16 years, 7 months ago) comment permalink
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