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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lame Photographers
on grounds of the old imperial palace, Kyoto Japan
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Formulaic Blossom Shot
Plum? Too early for cherry yet this year.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
My First Shot Upon Arrival
I like the mood
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lame Indeed
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/4000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rich Light
alternating among dark cloudy, bright sunny, and everywhere in between
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/11, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stopping Down a Bit on the Voigtländer
I almost always use it wide open, but this is at f/11
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rich
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Taking it Easy
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
I like this kind of moody shot
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Baby Steps
There were plenty of folks enjoying the blossoms, but it was quiet and relaxed, nothing at all like the ugly, disgusting spectacle you so often find (that I wrote about seven years ago in “The Ugliness of Japanese Cherry-Blossom Viewing”). It wasn't even like “Cherry-Blossom Joie de Vivre in Kyoto”. It was just a normal (chilly) Sunday afternoon in the park with kids playing and folks jogging, but with a quiet floral bonus for those who happened by.
Anyway, the photo above is horrible from a photographic sense, but I like the mood.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Twigs Spotted with Scarlet-Pink Puff
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hello
your lens may be bigger than mine, lady, but I have a better subject to photograph, so there
( that's a bit of self-deprecating humor, in case you didn't get it )
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
They See Me Strollin'
( I have no idea what that means )
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Preparation of Some Sort
for some kind of Shinto event
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Procession
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Private Photo Op
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Procession Returns
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
His and Her Poodles
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Baseball Interuptis
I was playing catch with Anthony and his friend in an area across from the blossom grove when I noticed this group of smartly-dressed folks, and just had to pick up the camera. All three looked so very appropriate, the triumph of quiet elegance and class over gaudiness.
I'm a bit disappointed in my shots, and would have loved a better opportunity than the one I snuck for myself between pitches.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Reverse Angle
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Continued a year later here...
I’m not sure if I’m the only one who feels this way, but as someone who’s been carrying around one camera or another for some forty years I find I that there are times when I have to almost force myself to leave the camera at home. I love making photographs, especially of nature and landscapes, but at the same time I find that carrying a camera changes the way I see what’s around me and the way I interact with the place. Without a camera I can become immersed into the sense of place buwith a camera I tend to keep myself at arm’s length from where I am. I become an observer, separate from what I’m observing. Here in Victoria the cherry blossoms usually start coming out in late January or early February and I love the swirls of blossoms. I also love capturing them in images but I have a hard time doing both at the same time… my mind needs to switch gears.
Mike.
A friend of mine living in Japan once said that after a couple of years there you get bored by how beautiful everything is. Happy to see that you don’t get that bored and continue to take pictures 🙂
Why do you think “Baby steps” is horrible from a photographic point of view? It has lot’s of golden ratios, it captures the scene pretty well and it really transmits the ambience of the scene. I really like it…
(writing from germany)
It’s just messy, cluttered, and unfocused (literally and figuratively). I just like the mood and the baby. —Jeffrey
Nothing lame about beautiful J-women in kimonos. Alas, maybe you’ve gotten used to all that rich Kyoto living.
Well see if you can find any of these trees:
American Name: Eastern Red Bud Cercis, Canadensis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cercis_canadensis
This would be an import where you are but this tree is the Eastern U.S.A.’s answer to the stunningly beautiful Asian cherry trees. (Not really, but you know… trying to be dramatic.). This tree is very striking when it first blooms and small trees have that fantastic quality when they first bloom where it looks like a barren tree was dipped first in glue and then dipped in a bucket of fuzzy flowers. The flowers are a radiant magenta color.
Although an import I would be surprised if Kyoto didn’t have some.
Not the best photo but an image search may find you better ones:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Eastern_Redbud.png
Well I think your reverse angle blossom is far from lame…but glad you are still out their snapping away and not too tired of the beauty to post the photos for us.
However, your two shots from the marathon course – among the bollards and plastic barriers – are going to be hard to beat this year or any year!!
Keep us posted on the progress
Annie 🙂
Sometimes I think that those thousand words which a picture paints (allegedly) create some of the problems revealed in the comments, I suspect that like many who love to return to your blog Jeffory the feelings conveyed to your audience in your pictures to me is often quite different from the feelings you had at the time of taking the picture (or in the dark room – lightbox!).
I honestly love the sense of Kyoto you have shown to me, and has made me more determined to save the money and get out to Japan (and specifically Kyoto) eventually.
As someone who is tragically bound to trees I adore some of your pictures (and yes envy the skill you display in taking the picture and then processing it).
Sean