Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pretty Flowers
everyone likes pretty flowers...

The first thing I noticed upon arrival during our visit to the Kamo no Shirabe cafe in Shiga last month were the flowers that separated the parking spaces from the walkway. It had been sprinkling, so they were photogenicly wet, and they were so vividly colored that they seemed to glow in the overcast light.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Kamo no Shirabe Cafe
Takashima, Shiga, Japan

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not a Bee

I got fooled again by a syrphid fly (AKA hoverfly), a fly beneficial to gardens (it eats pest insects) whose primary means of defense is to look like a bee or a wasp. It was just about a year ago that I first learned of them, having thought one was a bee on my camera bag.

Slightly different on the plant-life scale, I tried to get all artsy with some onions hanging in a shed....

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/3.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Onions

The couple running the cafe have a garden on one side where they grow a lot of the veggies that they use, and on the other side of the restaurant they have the wood-burning stone pizza oven, and a shed full of firewood for the thing, and some onions previously harvested from the garden.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 34 mm — ¹/90 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shed Full of Firewood and Onions
as seen from inside the cafe

I took the picture from my seat in the restaurant. The reflections in the window tell me that I should have broken out the polarization filter just a bit sooner.

The shed used to be the bus stop across the street. They rescued it from demolition when a new bus stop was put in, moving it here where it fits into the ambiance perfectly.

Anyway, the onions had potential, but I blew it. I prefer Shimada-san's onion shot.