Fumie and I just got back from an overnight trip to Miyajima (宮島, an island near Hiroshima), having seen pop singer Kousuke Atari (中孝介) in concert last night on the grounds of the famous Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社).
(IMAGE: Outer Buildings of Itsukushima Shrine)after the concert
I say “on the grounds” figuratively, since the entire shine — first built about 1,400 years ago, but having taken its present shape only 840 years ago — is on piers over the water. Well, at least while the tide is in. The concert was held in the open, just on the other side of the center buildings in the picture [...]
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A small part of(IMAGE: Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Japan)during low tide
As I mentioned yesterday, we went to Miyajima on Sunday to see Kousuke Atari (中孝介) in concert at the Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社), a large complex almost completely over the water when the tide is in. In the picture above, which I took the morning after the concert when the tide was out, you can see the piers and such.
The concert was in the open air away from the building, on a little dais you can sort of see in the center of the picture.
Photography was not permitted during the concert, so I didn't bring [...]
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(IMAGE: Bench)Miyajima, Japan
The short path on Miyajima Island that fronts the ocean between the Itsukushima Shrine (where we saw Kousuke Atari in concert) and our hotel (Kinsuikan Inn — 錦水館) was lined with benches and large stone lanterns.
Deer run wild over the whole island.
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After having seen a concert on Sunday night in Miyajima, we stayed overnight and enjoyed the town the next day.
Miyajima is a very nice, quaint area that's been popular for tourists for over a thousand years, so I was surprised to find that it was not hyper-commercialized and disgustingly crowded. I'm sure it helped that we were there on a weekday, but in any case, it was clean, pleasant, and real. The bench scene that I posted yesterday tells a lot, I think.
Since Fumie's mom was looking after Anthony (thank you, thank you, thank you!), Fumie and I were free to enjoy the area at [...]
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(IMAGE: Preschool Car Repair)
We awoke this morning to find a car-repair scene on the livingroom floor.
(IMAGE: Wide View)
To repair the black car, Anthony's imagination called in three fire trucks, two helicopters, a large crane, a dump truck, an ambulance, a car, and assorted workers.
(IMAGE: Ladder Trucks to the Rescue Repair)
(IMAGE: Up On Stilts)
(IMAGE: Rear View)
The Lego building to the left in the picture above is the workers' rest area.
(IMAGE: Hardhats Required)
He makes these kind of things every day, from the simple (valet) to the complex (heavy industries) to the unexpected (airport security gate). If they [...]
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(IMAGE: Enjoying the View)Main Gate of the Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima, Japan
I mentioned in my post about the Kousuke Atari concert in Miyajima that the shrine (Itsukushima Shrine) had a big, famous gate (as many shrines tend to have, including the one near me).
After the concert, we walked around a bit taking pictures (actually running into the singer at one point, but that's for a different post), and I liked this guy sitting at the edge of the water.

I didn't have much time before the concert, but snapped this next picture from in front of our hotel just before we walked [...]
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Yesterday was the annual bazaar for part of the school system associated with Anthony's preschool, with the highlight for the preschoolers being a mini steam locomotive that actually works, and pulls kids and adults alike around a little track.
Of course, it makes for a great photo op, so the cameras were out in force....
(IMAGE: Yoko-chan's Daddy, and Zak)
I loaned my Nikkor 70-200/2.8 to the dad of one of Anthony's classmates (Yoko-chan's Daddy) to try on his Nikon D50, while my friend Zak uses my Nikkor 18-200 VR on his Fuji S5 Pro. (I used Yoko-chan's Daddy's 18-200 VR to take that shot.)
(IMAGE: Cool [...]
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(IMAGE: Dark)
While taking long exposure night shots of Itsukushima Shrine's Gate in Miyajima, the brilliant illumination was turned off, and the area became quite dark. I thought I'd give it a try with the lights off, but as you can see above, my one attempt came out completely dark. Since it was late, I didn't want to spend the time trying again for a more reasonable exposure, so we packed up and returned to the hotel.
When I got home and loaded all the images into Lightroom, I intended to delete this one along with all the other rejects. More out of habit than anything [...]
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The main attraction for many kids at the annual bazaar is the mini steam engine, which is therefore also the main attraction for those with cameras at the bazaar.
Here are some warm-fuzzy shots of people enjoying the train....
(IMAGE: The Driver Probably Enjoyed it the Most)photo courtesy of Zak Braverman
The man in the foreground above was the driver (and likely owner) of the train, who never stopped smiling. I brought along a copy of the “This is Reverse Gear” photo from last year's post and presented it to him.
Something About Riding a Train Makes You Want to Wave
(IMAGE: Smiles Galore)

Some of Anthony's classmates participated in an Ikebana (the art of flower arrangement) exhibition in Kyoto this past weekend. I normally have little interest in such things, but when I was invited (thanks Arthur!), I felt oddly interested, so Anthony and I headed over for a peek.
The show was in a large hall that was designed for viewing, not photography, and so with the mixed lighting (fluorescent, and various kinds of incandescent) and lack of nice backgrounds, the pictures don't come out well. Still, hopefully, some of the cuteness found in any art by four and five year olds comes through.
Ikebana is an art [...]
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(IMAGE: Silk Shirt: an old Kimono Reborn)
I tried my hand at product photography for the first time today, for a Kyoto charity that takes the wonderful silk fabrics from old kimonos and turns them into stylish garments. Ladies in small, rural villages in various south-east Asian countries (Laos, Cambodia, etc.) who have been trained by the charity actually do the sewing, by hand or on pedal-powered sewing-machines provided by the charity. The whole point is to provide people in these small villages a way to earn a living without having to leave their village/family behind.
The charity's name is “Reborn”, which I'd guess refers both [...]
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Finishing up my Kyoto fall-color preview featuring pictures from last year that didn't make the cut a the time, here are four final images to get one into the autumn mood. (Previous installments: Part I, Part II.)
Wall roof at the Konpukuji Temple
Bamboo and Momiji at the Enkouji Templewhere many of last year's Kyoto Fall Foliage Desktop Backgrounds were taken.
From the street outside the Eikando Temple
From the same area as the Color of Kyoto Desktop Background and the Vine and Bamboo Desktop Background.
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(IMAGE: Miyajima Island)from the car ferry crossing from the mainland
More pictures from our short trip to Miyajima Island, Japan two weeks ago.
The view above, taken on the ferry ride over, doesn't show much detail, but does show the relative positions of a few landmarks, including the famous main gate of the Itsukushima Shrine almost a mile away, the smaller stone gate for the foot path to the shrine, and our hotel. (Mouseover the bold words in this paragraph to see the items highlighted in the photo.)
You can also see Mt. Misen in the center, which I posted about recently.
As you get a [...]
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As promised in an earlier post, here are some of the Ikebana (floral arranging) works I saw at the exhibition that also had the preschooler ikebana I posted about the other day.
If you know the slightest thing about ikebana, you'll probably cringe at the total lack of understanding evident in my comments, so you have my apologies up front.
(IMAGE: Iris, Maple, and Iris)
Based on how they were presented, the three works above were clearly by important and/or well-respected people. The middle and right-side nameplates indicate that they were done by the heads of schools (although I'm not sure whether “school” here is in [...]
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Last weekend was the fifth annual Kyoto Intercollegiate Festival, where Kyoto college kids get to put on a bunch of high-energy dance performances in front of their appreciative peers. It's one of the several times each year that the streets near my place are shut down to host some event or other (other notable times are during each year's Kyoto City Half Marathon, Kyoto Fire Department New Year's Exhibition, and Jidai Matsuri, and also whenever the President of the United States pays a visit).
(IMAGE: Lots'a People Partying in the Streets)
For some reason, Anthony's preschool made an appearance at one of the performances. I really had no [...]
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(IMAGE: Water #1a)
(IMAGE: Water #1b)
(IMAGE: Water #2a)
(IMAGE: Water #2b)
I've long known the old adage "if it's out of the frame (or can be cropped out), it doesn't exist." Well, at least I've known the concept – the photographic equivalent of “out of sight, out of mind” – and so if they aren't an adage, they should be.
As I mentioned in one of my Kyoto fall-color previews a couple of weeks ago, that's one of the great challenges in photographing much of the beauty in Kyoto: to not photograph what is not beautiful that often intrudes into an otherwise photogenic scene [...]
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Continuing (and finishing) the story of Anthony's performance at last weekend's Kyoto Intercollegiate Festival (Part I)....
I'd left off with Anthony and his classmates waiting in front of the stage for their turn...
(IMAGE: Waiting and Watching)
Once the college girls were done, I was shocked to find out that the preschoolers would perform on the ground in front of the stage, and not on the stage itself. Remember from Part I that I'd arrived half an hour early to secure the perfect vantage spot for the stage, which turned out to be a horrible vantage spot for the ground in front. I quickly dragged [...]
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In the park with Anthony today, I brushed up against a plant that left my arm plastered with seed pods that apparently became molecularly bonded to my shirt and skin. They were exceedingly difficult to remove. When I was actually able to pry one away, it stuck just as well to my fingers. I could feel it grabbing onto my fingerprints.
If I could then somehow flick it with enough force to propel it away from my finger, it would generally manage to land on my pant leg, which started the whole process over.
I'm not sure I've totally eradicated them from my skin/clothes, but [...]
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(IMAGE: Part of a Japanese 2,000-yen Banknoteat 650× Magnification)
Well, I'm not sure “650× magnification” is exactly the right way to say it because there are so many ways to lie with numbers. The area of the bill shown is about 8mm by 5.3mm, or about 0.066 square inches. With an average LCD display at 86 DPI, the image above appears at about 8 × 5.4 inches, or about 43 square inches (although how big it appears for you depends on the physical size of your monitor, your monitor's dot pitch, your desktop size, and perhaps some browser settings).
So, from the actual area of [...]
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(IMAGE: The Five-Storied Pagoda on Miyajima)
One of the landmarks on Miyajima, Japan, besides the main gate of the Itsukushima Shrine, is a five-story tall pagoda called, unimaginatively enough, “five-storied Pagoda” (In Japanese: 五重塔, gojyuunodou).
There are a number of large pagodas on the island, but this particular one is centrally located on relatively high ground, so it gets all the glory. You could see it in the background of the “Side View” photo on a recent post.
We didn't actually pay it a visit, but passed by enough that I ended up with plenty of pictures with it. Here it's sort of peeking out from behind some [...]
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(Insert Your Caption Here)
This is a new house a short distance from my place that I marvel at every time I go by, for any number of reasons.
You can see the shape of the previous building that was on the site by the roofline-marks left on the walls of the adjacent buildings. It's not uncommon for buildings to attach that way, which I can't understand because if I had a building, I couldn't imagine liking someone attaching to it.
In looking at the parking lot in front of the house, I can make a guess as to what's going on (but it's only [...]
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(IMAGE: What Am I?) (the answer is given at the bottom of my next post)
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(IMAGE: Origami “Bobblehead” Puppy)
Anthony played with an older friend the other day, who made for him some origami puppies (origami being the Japanese art of paper folding). They were adorable, all the more so because their heads bobbled in the breeze like a bobblehead doll.
Made from two sheets of paper, the head is balanced on a point, and hence the bobble....
(IMAGE: The Source of the Bobble)
(IMAGE: “I am Cuteness, Worship Me”)
(IMAGE: Top View)
(IMAGE: Paper Litter)
One you have the basic concept down, you can make adjustments to the body and head and end up with a whole [...]
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Anthony turned five years old today.
Like last year, he picked out his own present. This year it was a little train set...
(IMAGE: Checking out the Train)
(IMAGE: Running the Train)
(IMAGE: Stationmaster Included)
(IMAGE: “Happy Birthday Anthony”)
In the picture above, I like the perspective of the candles and how they rise out of the focus into the blur.
(IMAGE: There Seems to be More Candles Every Year)
(IMAGE: Anticipation)
(IMAGE: Cleaning up the Five)(having forgotten to blow it out with the rest of the candles moments ago)
(IMAGE: Cleaning up the Five)Now that they're out, the candles [...]
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More pictures from Anthony's birthday the other day.
We had a couple of those pull-the-string-and-streamers-pop-out party favors....
(IMAGE: Noisy!)
Yet just 0.69 seconds later....
(IMAGE: Fun!)
A present from Grandma and Grandpa had him looking for assistance...
(IMAGE: “Scissors, Please”)
Inside was an “age 8+” radio-controlled car that I'm sure we'll see more of in a later post, and a book that got an immediate and thorough inspection...
(IMAGE: “Cuuuuuute”)
Fumie's mom made a wonderful spread for dinner. Anthony and Fumie's brother are playing with Anthony's new train in the background of the next shot....
(IMAGE: Tasty Dinner)
The foreground bowl is [...]
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(IMAGE: Shortcut)
As I earlier posted from our trip to Miyajima an island near Hiroshima, Japan, one of the main photographic attractions is the large main gate of the Itsukushima Shrine. It's off the coast in the intertidal zone, so when the tide is in, it's in the water and really pretty. There's a nice daytime shot of it at high tide at the end of this post, and on another post, some night shots.
Perhaps it's just the geek in me, but I think there's a certain interest to it even at low tide. I like to see how things work, and how they're built, and, [...]
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From the “Words Really Can't Do It Justice” department, rummaging around in my image library I found these shots that I took with my cellphone last year, on Route 1 in Yamashina (Kyoto, Japan).
(IMAGE: Hello Kitty Van)


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Lighting a scene to photograph in a pleasing way is either a matter of luck, or the combination of two skills: knowing the physics of light (that is, knowing the results you'll get from lighting decisions), and having the creative sense to use that knowledge toward an aesthetically-pleasing end.
For my part, I generally go with the “luck” option, but that's about to change.
I've recently started reading  Light — Science & Magic:  An Introduction to Photographic Lighting, and the first chapters have made me positively giddy with expectation.

As I lamented once before, good photographers apparently make bad writers (with the most poorly written book [...]
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