Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » More From That Big New-Year’s-Day Snow in Kyoto

by Jeffrey Friedl Fri, January 2nd, 2015 11:37pm JST (9 years, 4 months ago)

Snowy Heian Shrine Kyoto Japan 平安神宮、京都市 -- Heian Shrine (平安神宮) -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 — ¹/4 sec, f/10, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Snowy Heian Shrine
Kyoto Japan
平安神宮、京都市

As I mentioned Yesterday, New Year's Day brought Kyoto's biggest snow in 60ish years. I went out for a bit in the evening to snap some pics and play with Anthony.

It was really coming down...

Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Compare that shot to the lead shot on this post.

The snow just stuck to whatever it first touched, and accumulated in improbable amounts on the most insubstantial of surfaces....

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos

The moment I walked outside I knew that the expressway (whose nearest entrance is more than 6km away) was closed, because when it closes, traffic ends up bogged down on my street...

Expressway Refugees -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 — ¹/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Expressway Refugees

Not Much Traffic Here -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 31mm — 0.6 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not Much Traffic Here

But Lots of Snow Play -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 31mm — 0.6 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
But Lots of Snow Play

Bus Stop -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 31mm — 0.6 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bus Stop

Seating Available Kyoto Prefectural Library, Okazaki -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 — 0.5 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Seating Available
Kyoto Prefectural Library, Okazaki

Clearing the Slide as a matter of public service, of course ;-) -- Playground SW of Nijo-Jingumichi -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 32mm — ¹/8 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Clearing the Slide
as a matter of public service, of course 😉

Festival -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 45mm — ¹/6 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Festival

Earlier in the day, when there wasn't a flake of snow, I took lots of pictures with the intent to write about the new-year's crowds. This whole are was packed with folks making their first shrine visit of the new year. At the time, the road was closed to vehicles and was lined with food vendors. Now the vendors have battened down the hatches until tomorrow.

Entrance Gate Heian Shrine -- Heian Shrine (平安神宮) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 — 0.8 sec, f/13, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Entrance Gate
Heian Shrine

Lame Impersonation of this shot when he was four -- Heian Shrine (平安神宮) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 40mm — ¹/15 sec, f/5, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lame Impersonation
of this shot when he was four

Splats in Waiting on a side building The slumping snow on the roof made me think of “ When You Tempt Fate, Sometimes You Lose ” -- Heian Shrine (平安神宮) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 70mm — ¹/4 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Splats in Waiting
on a side building
The slumping snow on the roof made me think of
“When You Tempt Fate, Sometimes You Lose”

Main Building Heian Shrine -- Heian Shrine (平安神宮) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 70mm — ¹/20 sec, f/5, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Main Building
Heian Shrine

Then it was time for more snow play with Anthony...

Moving Target -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 — ¹/6 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Moving Target

By the time I put the camera aside to play, my hands were so frozen that I couldn't feel them other than by proxy through the pain. At the shrine it had gotten to where I couldn't tell whether I had pressed the shutter button or anything... I had lost any sense of touch in my right hand, so I was taking shots with my left. I hadn't been that cold since I was a kid.

When I started to play with Anthony, my right hand hurt so much I just couldn't do it, so I shoved it under my armpit for five minutes to warm it, with that exquisitely painful pain one gets when an over-cold finger or toe is warming. Wow, it really really hurt.

But oddly, after that I was fine for the rest of the night. We threw snowballs and such for well over an hour and they didn't feel so much as chilly again. Odd.

Playground SW of Nijo-Jingumichi -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 35mm — 0.5 sec, f/5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28mm — 4 sec, f/18, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos

Canal looking a bit like cherry blossoms, the snow here reminds me of this -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 36mm — 10 sec, f/11, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Canal
looking a bit like cherry blossoms, the snow here reminds me of this

Impromptu Elevator Selfie with both camera and self slightly snow encrusted -- Shirakawa River -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2015 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (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 @ 45mm — ¹/13 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Impromptu Elevator Selfie
with both camera and self slightly snow encrusted

I'd mentioned at the end of yesterday's post that the forecast was for more snow overnight and that I might try to get up to photograph in the morning. Neither happened. I was so tired (from the snowball play, I suppose) that I slept until 10:30am! It turns out no new snow fell anyway.

This evening (it's 11:30pm as I write this) the snow is coming down hard again, and it looks to be more than yesterday. Probably I'll head out tonight even for a bit after posting this, lest I have to wait another 58 years for a similar chance...

Update: it turns out I had to wait only one day for a bigger snow.

Continued here...

February	18th,	2008	Amazing Snow at the Heian Shrine
April	5th,	2009	Evening Cherry Blossoms, and some White-Balance Gymnastics
January	4th,	2011	When You Tempt Fate, Sometimes You Lose
March	30th,	2014	Modern Progress: Japan's First Utility Wires Coming Down After 120 Years
January	2nd,	2015	Kyoto's Biggest Snow in 58 Years
January	3rd,	2015	Kyoto At Night During a Heavy Snow
January	20th,	2017	Revisiting Kyoto's Big Snow from Early 2015

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One comment so far...

Oh my goodness, what wonderful images, especially in the snow at night around the Heian Shrine. In particular I love the one you took through the tori gate towards the Heian Shrine. What a wonderful shot with the lighting on the torii gate against the leaden sky. I really must make a bigger effort to get out at night this year.
I only found your images after doing a ‘google’ for tai chi in Kyoto and found those wonderful shots of 600 tai chi practitioners performing in front of the Heian Shrine. Apparently if the weather is good there are groups practicing somewhere along the banks of the river somewhere?

I have bookmarked your site so I can return to it again and peruse your wonderful images of Kyoto.
Many thanks for sharing.

— comment by Brian Win on February 15th, 2015 at 11:01pm JST (9 years, 2 months ago) — comment permalink