A Drenched Visit to the Kuuya-Taki Waterfall in Western Kyoto
desktop background image of the Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝), Kyoto Japan -- Hearty Flow -- Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝) -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 30 sec, f/11, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Hearty Flow
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It's been ages since I've been out with just me and the camera, so I took some time for myself yesterday to visit the Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝) in the mountains of western Kyoto. I first posted about it a year ago, and have since posted many updates, such as here and here.

(As always, the “nearby photos” link under any of these shots brings up other photos taken over the years in the same area.)

It had been raining recently, so yesterday I hoped to get lucky with a large flow of water over the falls, and also lucky to miss rain while I was there.

I was not as lucky as I had hoped.

Heavy Downpour while waiting it out under the roof of a dilapidated shack -- Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 4 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Heavy Downpour
while waiting it out under the roof of a dilapidated shack
Corrugated Tin Roof -- Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 52mm — 1/10 sec, f/4.5, ISO 10000 — map & image datanearby photos
Corrugated Tin Roof

I had hoped for the best, but had prepared for the worst, so I had rain gear, umbrella, etc., so I could still try to make some shots, but it was a miserable time.

Wasn't Worth It for this boring shot -- Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 34mm — 8 sec, f/9, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
Wasn't Worth It
for this boring shot

Since I was there, I wanted to try to make the best of it, but I seemed to not be able to get into a groove. The shot below seems to completely lack a reasonable perspective, despite having been taken from a spot that offered such a great view...

desktop background image of the Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝), Kyoto Japan -- Compressed View -- Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝) -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/20 sec, f/7.1, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
Compressed View
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The huge (6-story tall?) waterfall in the far background looks tiny, and so do the logs in the foreground. The big stone gate is almost invisible.

desktop background image of the Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝), Kyoto Japan -- Principle -- Kuuya-taki Waterfall (空也滝) -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60mm — 0.6 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Principle
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The other day someone contacted me asking whether they could use one of my photos to illustrate a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson:

"On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock."

The photo in question was of pretty bad quality, so while I was out there I looked for an appropriate scene. I took a bunch of shots that I've still yet to check out, but the shot above (and the shot at the start of the post) are two attempts.

Continued here...


All 2 comments so far, oldest first...

「空也滝」って…..

Doh! Thanks, silly me. Fixed. —Jeffrey

— comment by Jim Breen on July 5th, 2013 at 11:06am JST (10 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink

I find these shots very interesting. They successfully capture the feeling tone of the place and day. Thanks for braving the rain.

— comment by Tom in SF on July 5th, 2013 at 11:17pm JST (10 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink
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