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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/14, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tiny Bridges in Konan
Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

On the way to visit my brother-in-law and his wife last week in Suzuka Japan, to deliver the photo book of their wedding that I wrote about in the previous post, I took the Shin Meishin Expressway (“New Nagoya Kobe Expressway”), a nice section of highway that was opened just a couple of years ago. Because of it, what would have been a four hour drive became an hour and a half. I was quite glad for the new road.

It goes through some mountainous terrain, so has lots of long tunnels and bridges, the longest tunnel on this section being 4km long. About half way there, immediately upon exiting a mile-long tunnel, I crossed a short but high bridge, and for the short moment it took to cross the bridge, I caught a glimpse of a picturesque valley below, and had an urge to visit it.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bridges Growing From the Rice Fields
( looking north )

I didn't have the time to visit that day, but because my arm pain returned yesterday, I thought I should take it easy today, so after seeing a doctor this morning, I gave in to my wanderlust and decided to scooter over to see the valley.

It wasn't as picturesque as I had remembered, though the situation wasn't helped by the weather, which was very heavily hazy, sometimes sunny, but always threatening rain.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/14, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Facing East

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Facing East
( a little further up the mountain )

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Down Below
life goes on

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/1.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Life Going On
( looking south )

The bridges make for some pretty pictures, but they absolutely destroy the tranquility of the little valley. It's difficult to see in the photo above, but there's an old lady working a small rice field immediately below the 2nd-from-left support column. (Like the old lady seen in this rice-harvest post, she's wearing a towel over her head). You can see her better in the next picture...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos

There's an entrance to the expressway very close to here, so the expressway connects them to the world for the first time, but one can imagine people living in the valley (and the dozens of similar valleys along the route) were not wholly enthusiastic about the project.

Anyway, the valley was less photogenic than I had hoped, but since I had taken my scooter through the mountains to get there (I couldn't take the expressaay on a scooter, and wouldn't have wanted to when small mountain roads awaited), I had ample opportunity to immerse myself in a variety of serendipitous photographic delights, so another half dozen posts have been added to the long backlog of recent stuff I'd like to share...