
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/4.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Boys Will Be Boys
Anthony and I visited Zak and his 3-and-a-half-year-old son Gen for a day of play, including a trip to the same park in Otsu City that Anthony and Monet played in last week (that I mentioned on my Overwhelmed: an Embarrassment of Riches post).
The two boys spent most of the time playing in the water.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 220 mm — 1/500 sec, f/4.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Under a Bridge

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 340 mm — 1/750 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Let's Go Down There”

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 340 mm — 1/640 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Hmmm, I Like the Sound of That....”

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 165 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 340 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/4.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 180 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/4.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 340 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/4.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
At this point they started to walk away on the path (a path that leads down to a busy street), so I yelled down for them to come back. Three-year-old Gen, being the three-year-old that he is, turned heel and started running away, so I took off down after him.
I was carrying my camera (the non-small Nikon D200 mounted with a big Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 zoom and a 1.7× teleconverter) all attached to my 8-foot-long monopod, yet I still ran perhaps the fastest I've run in the last 20 years: the GPS unit in my pocket recorded a maximum speed of 29kph. For reference, a four-minute mile is 24kph. (But, of course, I didn't run for a whole mile, and I was also running downhill 🙂 )
On the way back, Anthony showed me some chestnuts he'd been carrying throughout the water play....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125 mm — 1/250 sec, f/9, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
You can see them in his hand in this picture from earlier when he and Gen were playing at the playground and Anthony suggested that they go play in the water in the first place...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 290 mm — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Let's Go Be Naughty Over There”
Zak must have got some nice pictures himself, as he brought along his own focus puller...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Focus Puller in Training
(10-month-old Zoe Tamaki Braverman)

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oh, NOW I finally remember that I exchanged some private emails with Gen’s dad I think it was about 6 years ago. We got to “know” (not personally, just on the Internet) on the biling-fam list. If I remember correctly he plays the shakuhachi and his wife has the same profession as my mum. 🙂