Itami Sky Park, Next to Osaka Airport
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Saturday In the Park local hubbub at the Itami Sky Park next to Osaka (Itami) Airport -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 220 — map & image datanearby photos
Saturday In the Park
local hubbub at the Itami Sky Park next to Osaka (Itami) Airport
Ringside View -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 280 — map & image datanearby photos
Ringside View

Prior to Kansai International opening as Osaka's international airport in 1994, the closer-to-town Osaka Airport filled that position, but now it's used mostly for domestic flights. It straddles the border between Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, but lies mostly in Hyogo, in its city of Itami, so it's often referred to as “Osaka (Itami)”.

Immediately next to it, running more than a kilometer long, is a thin strip of city park called the Itami Sky Park. We stopped by while visiting some friends last spring.

Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 280 — map & image datanearby photos

We tried some badminton, but it was a windy day and without buildings or trees to inhibit it as it crossed the airport, at the park it was absolutely howling....

Hitting It Forward made it go backwards -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 420mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 — map & image datanearby photos
Hitting It Forward
made it go backwards

Luckily, there were lots of jungle-gym type things sprinkled across the length for kids of various ages...

Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500 — map & image datanearby photos
Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1250 — map & image datanearby photos
Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Occasional Passers-By -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 — map & image datanearby photos
Occasional Passers-By
this particular one was Meant for Younger Kids but still fun -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1100 — map & image datanearby photos
this particular one was
Meant for Younger Kids
but still fun
Late-Afternoon Snack -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500 — map & image datanearby photos
Late-Afternoon Snack
Nom Nom Nom -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma 50-500mm OS @ 500mm cropped — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2800 — map & image datanearby photos
Nom Nom Nom
Something in Bloom -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 420mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 360 — map & image datanearby photos
Something in Bloom
Heading Down -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image datanearby photos
Heading Down
Race -- Itami Sky Park -- Itami, Hyogo, Japan -- Copyright 2011 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116mm — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Race

We barely saw one small part of it... there looks to be much left to explore. If you're in the area with kids, it's highly recommended.


All 4 comments so far, oldest first...

Looks like you guys had fun. Greg had fun playing at that park with some pals, and on another day we went to the airport itself, which has an outdoor deck where you can watch all the action. Another time they had a summer festival where Greg was able to try on uniforms and climb on the tarmac vehicles and participate in an airplane pull. They put a tow rope on a 757 and about 70 kids in a line pulling together were actually able to get it rolling. That was fun.

— comment by Nils on June 26th, 2011 at 11:16pm JST (12 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink

Great photos. I really like the ones of Anthony in the roped jungle-gym photos. Very nice

— comment by Earnest Barr on June 27th, 2011 at 9:06pm JST (12 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink

I actually just read the comment from Nils and I have to say that a bunch of kids pulling a 757 would be quite a site!

— comment by Earnest Barr on June 27th, 2011 at 9:07pm JST (12 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink

The 2nd shot of your kid in the ropey jungle gym is exceptionally nice. (JF7_078613_sm.jpg). The light reflecting off of the ropes in the bottom right corner along with the color of the ropes themselves, -looks very warm and inviting. Your son is just out of focus but not so much and then the in-focus ropes juxtaposed against the out of focus ones in the background… Rule of thirds, blah blah blah. My eyes also takes a very nice trip in this photo: 1st to the lower right corner, 2nd travel up the human subject; register their facial expression, 3rd my eyes wrestle with the 2 walls of rope lattices. Rinse & Repeat. Very nice photo, like something out of a magazine. How far away from Anthony were you in getting this shot?

Thanks for your kind words… your analysis goes much deeper than mine (which is “I like it” 🙂 ). IIRC, the ropes were probably about two feet above my head. —Jeffrey

— comment by Ron Evans on June 29th, 2011 at 2:25am JST (12 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink
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