Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 40 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/10, ISO 200 — map & image data
Water Off a Duck's Back
or something like that

Today was the annual Kyoto City Fire Department New-Year Parade, held out in the street near my place. According to the press release, it involved about 3,000 people, 56 fire trucks/vehicles, and two fire-department helicopters. The same event three years ago, which was my first outing with a dSLR, was overcast and gloomy, but today it was bright and sunny.

Unfortunately, I missed it.

I'd forgotten about it, and was reminded only by the thunderous rumble of the helicopters flying very low, immediately overhead, taking part in the finale. (The press release said that only two would take part, but it sounded like half a dozen, as took part three years ago.)

Anthony would want to see it, of course, so we ran out and caught things just as they were shutting down. The street was filled with all manner of fire truck, from cute little support vehicles to huge ladder trucks with their ladders extended 10+ stories up. I know from past experience that the finale involves a lot of water sprayed from these trucks, and the evidence of it this year was clear on the back of a Kyoto Prefectural policeman's formal jacket, which was positively sparkling with a covering of water droplets. I asked him whether I could take a shot of it, which is why he's smiling in the photo above (I think he thought I was somewhat of a nut). In the photo, water droplets came out all flat – what made them amazing in person was that the were by far the brightest thing around except the sun itself, something totally lost in the photo.

As the fire crews were shutting down, parents moved in to pose their kids and take snapshots....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/22, ISO 450 — map & image data
Photo Op

Anthony particularly liked watching how the ladder trucks packed themselves up. This involved the huge ladder collapsing into itself and swinging around over the cab, the basket folding up, and the widely-extended support legs lifting up and then recessing into the vehicle. This interest was sparked by a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa of some very cool hydraulic constructions sets.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/14, ISO 200 — map & image data
Ladder Truck Departing

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data
Truck and Snowy Mountain

I liked how the frosty mountain in the background was framed by the trees, and the ladder. It's not that I have such low standards, but we get so little snow here that it's always exciting to see it.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/14, ISO 280 — map & image data
Traffic Control

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/14, ISO 1400 — map & image data
More Packing Up

These little fire trucks were parked directly next to the playground. Anthony's attention wandered to the swings, and with that our fire-department outing was over as quickly as it started...