Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/45 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
50 Years Shy of their Golden Anniversary
some random couple that just got married
The cold that I've had for the last couple of weeks has finally started to subside, which is good timing (finally!) because it allowed us to make a trip we've been planning for a while, an overnight a few hours north by train to Kanazawa, to see Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari (中孝介) in concert again. (We've also seen him in Miyajima, twice in Tokyo, in Osaka, and in Takamatsu.)
Anyway, earlier today I was killing time in the hotel lobby after we checked out when applause erupted from the hotel's “wedding chapel”, and the couple above emerged. Even at f/1.4 and ISO 800, the darkness called for a 1/45 sec exposure (much too slow for 85mm), but I like how it came out nevertheless. I have no idea who they are, but they certainly look happy.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bridesmaid
The lady in the simple red kimono is the bridesmade in the most literal sense: she's hotel staff who walks the bride (figuratively, and often literally) through the events of the wedding, from the dressing through to the end of the formal reception. Except for when the bride is walking down the aisle, the bridesmade – hanayome kaizoenin 花嫁介添人 – is never more than a step or two away, thus (hopefully) ensuring a stress-free event for the bride.
To my knowledge, no such counterpart exists for a Japanese groom, who is expected to show up, smile, and keep quiet. 🙂
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/30 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Friends
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/20 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hotel Staff and Wedding Guest
I was panning on the three friends shown above as they walked to the elevators that would take them to the formal reception, when I snapped a picture just as the pan moved over a bright sign in the background. I was already snapping the picture as I noticed the sign, so I didn't have time to adjust the exposure to ignore the background brightness. I thought for sure it'd be a throw-away shot, and I'm probably right, but somehow I like the effect, and the (fuzzy) detail on the back of the kimono:
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Underexposed
but still pretty, sort of
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/13 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lobby Center
corrected for perspective
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/45 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Make up your Mind
hotel gift shop
Since I'm showing pictures of random people I don't know, I'll include two that I took earlier in the day while sitting at a window in the hotel coffee shop, watching people go by. I was mostly fiddling with my camera, practicing focusing quickly, but as I was tracking this couple, I was struck by the man's nice smile, so I fired off a frame...
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Random Nice Smile in Kanazawa
She soon turned and joined him in looking at me with a big smile. I didn't realize that he'd been smiling at me (not having realized that they could even see me through the reflections that were certainly there). I wish I could send them a copy of the shot.
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/800 sec, f/1.8, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Random Youth in Kanazawa
I'm not real big on street photography, so in the future I'll leave this kind of stuff to Zak. His most recent post, though, of some toddlers in a communal buggy prompts me to post a shot I happen to have taken yesterday morning, before leaving for Kanazawa:
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/100 sec, f/8, ISO 160 — full exif
Random Youth in Kyoto 🙂
It's common to see kids – from infants to maybe two years old – being wheeled around in buggies like this, sometimes six or eight in the larger ones. It's a safe way for playcare teachers to get them out and about, and I find it absolutely adorable every time I see it. In the shot above, I love how the “bigger” kids (who can't yet be two years old) are “helping” the teacher push.
Woah… I love Kanazawa. Last time I was there was in Dec. 2005. It was a pretty cold winter loads of snow and a lot of fun. I had Shiro Ebi for the first time… yum!! I also had Shirako for the first time in Kanazawa, I have to say it was damm good, but I know what it is now, I am not sure I would have the inclination to try it a 2nd time.
What is “Shirako”? Nice Post, Jeff. Hope you’re feeling better soon.
I’d never heard of the English, much less the Japanese. The English is “milt“. —Jeffrey
Well its the Seminiferous tubules of monkfish loaded with their sperm, and quite a local favorite in Kanazawa at the right time of year.
Shiro Ebi is White Shrimp…
Kanazawa is a really special place, not just for eating but lots to see there…
That’s one big baby buggy! Cool idea, though. It looks fun. Maybe Marty & I should get one for our two kids to ride in.
For those not keeping close tabs on my extended family, this is my sister’s way of letting me know that’s she’s pregnant with #2 (following almost two years on the heels of #1, Josh). Congratulations Marci and Marty! —Jeffy
I stayed in Kanazawa for a year as an intern at the local newspaper back in the early 1990s. It is a special place; I particularly like parts of Teramachi, Utatsuyama and also Nodayama Bochi. I also liked the university which was still at its old site at that point.
While it’s special in other ways the city is also mind-bogglingly parochial and insular. As an example, I visited a famous Kanazawa restaurant famous throughout Japan that regularly got customers from all over the country (and this was pre-internet) to interview the kami-san there. It was an interesting chat, but the thing that sticks in my mind is her frank comment that she would never be accepted in Kanazawa society partly because she had “only” lived there 30 years with her husband (who was from Ishikawa prefecture) but chiefly because she was from Kyoto. As she put it “Kyoto can be insular, but it’s a city with commerce and business links to the outside world as well as culture, whereas culture is all Kanazawa has, so they have no sense of perspective”. Nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to live there with a Japanese wife and family.