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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Chilly
Kinosaki onsen district, Toyo'oka City, Hyogo, Japan

After spending most of last week with a mild cold, I finally felt better toward the weekend, so we took off on an impromptu overnight trip to the onsen (hot springs) at Kinosaki, a three-and-a-half hour drive through the mountains north-west of Kyoto, to Toyo'oka City in the neighboring prefecture of Hyogo.

We haven't had snow yet in Kyoto, but hoped to see some on the way. I envisioned the scene we saw in 2007 in Hokkaido with clean dry streets surrounded by pretty snow, but just in case, I had new snow tires on the car, to avoid the problem I had last year driving in some light snow.

We started seeing snow about half way into the drive. The roads themselves weren't covered, but they looked really wet and shiny. That wouldn't be a problem except that the temperature was below freezing – about 25°F – and so I was never sure whether the road was really wet, or was wet-looking black ice.

The last hour of the drive was white-knuckle slow, but we arrived in one piece half an hour after sunset. I was seriously stressed from the drive, so while Fumie checked in to our minshuku (Japanese inn), she let me run out for some photographic stress release.

I knew that the dusk lighting would be great, and hot off my recent successes with handheld low-light photography (although in much warmer climes), I hoped for the best.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stream Bisecting Kinosaki's Onsens

The main onsen area had a small river with dozens of bridge crossings, so if you could ignore the pervasive utility lines and wires, there was always a nice view.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos

You had to be vigilant in taking care with your footing, though, because the ground was either extremely slippery or puddled-up wet. So if your concentration faltered, you'd end up with either wet/freezing toes, or a nasty fall.

The cause of both the slipperiness and the wetness was the same, and it wasn't snow:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/20 sec freestanding handheld, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mid-Street Ice-Rink Production

Many streets and walkways in the area had these little fountains of liquid ice-to-be spraying all over. This is, of course, the answer to my What am I? quiz from the other day. They apparently have sensors that turn them on automatically when it snows.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Frostbitten Toes?   Broken Tailbone?
Decisions, Decisions

It seems like a pretty-freaking stupid idea to me, but they've had them for 10+ years, so apparently it somehow balances out on the plus side.

Meanwhile, in the deepening twilight, everything got bluer and bluer, except where there was incandescent lighting, which became oranger and oranger. The outside really did become more blue as dusk settled in, but the incandescent lighting merely appeared to be getting more orange because in the context of the deep blue outside, our eyes/brain stopped trying to reconcile the two as the same, and so stopped trying to perceive them both as “white”.

Thus, we could now see the orange and blue for what they were, and it made for a pretty scene...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pretty
Pretty darn cold, too!

I ventured around a bit, but it was cold and (did I mention this?) really slippery, so I didn't go too far. I did see another guys taking pictures, with a tripod but without gloves...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op

The next morning it was FREEZING (well, colder than that, actually). Having grown up in Ohio where 25°F would be considered downright balmy in the middle of winter, I feel like a wimp thinking that it was so cold, but it's been 20 years since I lived in that kind of cold, so now I am a wimp.

Anthony is not a wimp and wanted to play in the snow, so we bundled up and headed out for a while before breakfast.

Already, people were in the streets on their way to an onsen for a hot bath...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Geta on Ice

The little road-sprinklers were still slightly flowing, so a thin band down the center of the street was standing water, while everything else was a flat sheet of pure ice.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos

It was much better (and more deterministic) where there were no sprinklers...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/10, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sure Footing

One of the little bridges across the river was slanted completely down from one side, with water from a large pipe at the high end covering the entire bridge in a steady stream.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
River Above and Below the Bridge

If the thing runs all the time, it's an excellent way to keep the whole bridge clear of snow and ice, but the water has to go somewhere, and so the road on either side was icy...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slippery When Wet

Anthony, of course, doesn't care about any of this... he just wants to play. We found an area where the road sprinklers were still spritzing a bit, and he enjoyed it.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/6.3, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos