Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
First Contact
the moon is just starting to nip at the sun, somewhere behind those clouds

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
35 Minutes To Go
quick snap from my veranda using a “D5” 1/_100,000 filter

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slightly Wider View

That picture above illustrates in one way just how bright the sun is... I was using stacked filters to cut all but 1/_3,200^th of the light, leaving everything dark except the sun, which was still completely blown out. I wonder what the dynamic range is during one of these things, between the surface of the moon and the surface of the sun.

Notice the odd colors in the clouds? Sometimes you see that at night with the moon, and I suppose it's related to conditions in the upper atmosphere, but in any case you certainly couldn't see it in person because either you were using special sun goggles (which made everything but the sun completely black), or you were looking with the naked eye and anything that close to the sun was too bright to look at.

So the colors look odd, but we'd probably see them often during the day if our eyes could handle the brightness. (And speaking of handling the brightness, I've nudged up the variance of some of these shots in Lightroom, to exaggerate the colors for artistic effect.)

For the main event, I moved to near the main gate of the Heian Shrine, which has appeared many times on my blog (such as this shot from six and a half years ago). The sun was coming up behind it lengthwise, so I wondered whether the distinctive “oriental” shape of its silhouette would be interesting.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 95mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Partial Eclipse
Main gate of the Heian Shrine, Kyoto Japan
11 minutes before annularity

The sun is completely blown out (no detail whatsoever), but I like how the reflections (refractions?) in the lens make for a green “ghost” of the eclipse just to the right of the sun, and an inverted red “ghost” down below.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm cropped — ¹/15 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oops
jiggly tripod reverberations become apparent during a misfire

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
That's Better
small sunspot about to get occluded

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm cropped — ¹/6 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Oops
but a pretty one

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Second Contact
you can see some sun peaking through some valleys
a few seconds after the nominal start of the full ring effect

I was surprised at how it didn't become dark. The sun was 94% covered (6% exposed) but you couldn't really tell... you certainly couldn't look at it with the naked eye without regretting it instantly, and if you didn't know something was going on, you might not even notice. With 94% hidden. The sun is really really really really bright.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm cropped — ¹/1600 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Skirting The Edge

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190mm — ¹/160 sec, f/7.1, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Trying That Shot Again

I really couldn't see on the back of the camera whether anything was working out, so I just gave it a shot.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Spectators

I heard that the park area along the length of the Kamo River (such as seen here and here) was absolutely packed. It sounds festive.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm cropped — ¹/6 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Note Quite Sure
but looks interesting

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Trying With Fewer Filters

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 + 1.4X TC @ 420mm cropped — ¹/2500 sec, f/11, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Departing Moon

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Those Crazy Colors
looking very moon-like

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Where
is my green “ghost”?

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Bit Of Detail
in the shadows on this one
at the expense of the sun and “ghost” blowing out even further

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Less Blowout

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
No Filters
but still needed a zippy 1/_8,000^th of a second to get even this

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm cropped — ¹/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Starry Night?
exaggerated refractions in the clouds
using a filter that cuts ^3,199/_3,200 of the light

We had a nice view of the annular ('ring-shaped') eclipse from Kyoto this morning. We are on the edge of the shadow's path, so the view for us was of the moon skirting the edge of the sun. We had only 100 seconds of ring. (Folks in Tokyo got five minutes.) I took a bunch of pictures, but don't know whether anything came out. Will look through them later. At the moment (an hour later), the sun still has a small bite out of it, getting smaller by the minute.

Continued here...

For the most part, cherry trees here in Japan don't bear fruit in a meaningful way (normally just small bitter fruits that are usually unnoticeable to begin with), but at the start of yesterday's walk I came across a real fruit-bearing cherry tree in front of someone's house, with a note “Enjoy them once they become red”...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Enjoy!
the red ones

Sadly, they were not red, so I couldn't partake.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Decidedly Orange
not yet red

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Burnt Orange

Not far from the previous train-track pic, but a different train line.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — ¹/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Scruffy

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not Scruffy

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/1250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cafe Lil Donkey

Lunch was at カフェちいろば (which, according to the “Lil Donkey” on their website, I take means “Cafe Little Donkey”). The food was very good... the cook has a real sense for quality.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fringe of Red

After lunch, I came across what appeared to be a maple-tree bush (short and bush-like, but the leaves seemed clearly to be momiji — Japanese maple) that was predominantly green, but with a few deeply-red elements splashed here and there...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slight Non-Fringe of Non-Red

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Momiji Alien

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Further along, the red level was escalated substantially with another fruiting cherry tree laden with cherries in their prime...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
These are Red
but, sadly, lacking an “Enjoy!” sign

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And finally, some roadside flowers that turned the red up to “11”...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
What a Challenge
the red is, literally, off the charts
(where by “literally” I mean “figuratively”, unless, of course, you were to actually try to chart the reds)

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The challenge here is that the reds were so super deeply saturated in real life that display technology just can't handle them at the same time as handling the rest of the image properly. The camera (Nikon D700) itself did an admirable job of it, considering that the detail was there, but once the color data is squished down to the limits of my laptop monitor, the reds become an ugly, solid unrefined blotch. I complain about this technological limitation often, such as in “Why Does “Brightness” Wash Colors to White?” and “Brilliant Flower, Not-so-Brilliant Processing”.

So, in the picture above, I manually toned down the reds by painting negative exposure in Lightroom. This traded off the unnatural solid blotchiness for some unnatural darkness, a trade-off that seemed in this case to be the lesser of two evils.. It's an HDR-like processing that didn't result in an obvious unnatural “HDR look”.

This next closeup shot may illustrate the problem better...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Completely Fake HDR

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Here's the original shot out of camera, with defaults in Lightroom except the white balance, which has been set from a separate WhiBal shot...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Out Of Camera Washout

In Lightroom, I lowered the exposure and other develop settings enough so that the reds weren't clipped, so that they finally showed just a bit of the detail that was there a-plenty in real life, resulting in an image that was dark except for the red leaves...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/8, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tamed Reds
at the expense of everything else

This shows how much brighter the reds should be compared to the rest of the image, but if I set the exposure so that the rest is reasonable, the reds are pushed brighter than display technology currently allows. And so the conundrum.

Flattening the contrast so that both the reds and greens are “reasonable” on their own can make for an okay result (as I hope “Completely Fake HDR” above is), but the completely unrealistic lack of red vividness is a limitation that drives me nuts.

I took a short walk today with some friends to go for lunch. Took some random shots along the way. Went crazy on them in Lightroom. Posted them here.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/5000 sec, f/1.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Station

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/1.8, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pics and Spices

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Manicured

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bycycle Parking Within

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/1000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Canal

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo I Took

Nikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Reverse Angle
photo by Paul Barr

This post is about a new camera-bag solution I'm trying, and so far like, involving an unconventional use of a Think Tank Photo Retrospective® Lens Changer 3 shoulder bag. You can see it at my side in the photos above.

I usually bring just a few lenses when I'm out with the camera, often a Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 and a pair of Nikkor f/1.4 primes (24mm and 50mm). My normal bag is the v1 version of the Think Tank Photo Speed Racer, a nice bag with a silly name, and it's not bad with how I shoot, but I was looking for something less geeky. Think Tank's Retrospective line is advertised as "inconspicuous, soft-sided shoulder bag with a simple exterior that blends into the environment while carrying photo gear", so that seemed to fit the bill.

Since I carry the camera either free in my hand or on a Sun Sniper Pro camera strap, I need a bag just for the lenses and little knickknacks like WhiBal card, polarizer filters, GPS unit, wallet, phone, and such. I liked the idea of the Lens Changer bag because it has three large separate compartments for the lenses, allowing me to place the lens I just took off the camera into one compartment, then use the same hand to fetch the next lens from another.

But as it turns out, I found the whole “shoulder bag” concept inappropriate for the kind of moving around I do when I shoot — bending, kneeling, crouching, stretching, etc. — and with the bag's strap slipping here and the bag flopping there, the bag was a nuisance as often as it was a blessing. It's a fine bag that does exactly what it was designed for and advertised as, so the problem is not with the bag, but with its match to me and my style.

Also, with all the weight constantly on one shoulder, I found it felt heavy after a while.

I figured that if I could hang it off my belt, all those problems would be solved. Hips take weight much better than shoulders, and being attached right at the bag would mean that it wouldn't flop around. Most importantly, unlike a traditional waist-pack camera bag, clipping it to my belt would not garner “what a geek!” ribbing from attractive women. (Thanks go to Lauren for sending me down this relatively stylish path.)

So, I paid a visit to a local hardware store to see whether I could fashion a pair of clips of some kind, and ended up finding exactly what I needed already available, a $7 belt clip:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/125 sec, f/16, ISO 6400 — map & image data
Added Belt Clip
one of a pair

As can be seen, I was able to attach the rings of the belt clips to the heavy-duty strap attachment points, one on either edge of the bag. They slip easily on and off my belt, allowing the bag to become part of my wardrobe.

E-P2 — ¹/250 sec, ISO 100 — map & image data
photo by Nicolas Joannin

The bag's shoulder strap is sewn-in captive and can't be removed, so it just hangs there below the bag. The captive strap makes perfect sense for what the bag was designed for, but I'd prefer is wasn't there, so I may cut it off. I haven't had the guts yet, though.

E-P2 — ¹/250 sec, ISO 100 — map & image data
In Use
going after the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8
photo by Nicolas Joannin

The bag's materials and workmanship are first class, but I'm not quite so sure about the design. I'm not in the bag industry so grant that there are likely considerations — of material, manufacturing, and marketing — that I'm not aware of, but the design seems to me to have striking flaws.

For example, in the photo above you can see the two large Velcro patches on the outside of the bag. Those are the closure for the cover flap, and they seem gratuitously large for their intended purpose. One of the big selling points is that they have a method to shut up the noise that the Velcro makes when detached (they have a separate piece of Velcro that covers the first, rendering the exposed side non-Velcro), but maybe they wouldn't need that in the first place if the patches were not the size of a soccer pitch.

Worse is the design of a small zippered compartment on the body-facing side of the bag. The captive strap's attach points are right there snug against the top of the zipper, blocking almost completely access to the zipper when it's fully open or fully closed. Here's what it looks like when I've gone to the trouble to pull back the strap to reveal, as best I can, access to the zipper:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/16, ISO 6400 — map & image data
Ill-Conceived Design
the dark brown thing to the right of the blue ribbon is the zipper tongue

It would be hard enough to gain access to the zipper without this flaw because the pocket is on the side of the bag pressed against your body (why is it not on the other side, with clean access protected by the flap?) but all the more awkward to access due to this design.

And notice that blue ribbon? That comes from inside the compartment, and is meant to secure your keys, I suppose. The problem is that the ribbon is sewn inside the compartment right at the zipper, almost guaranteeing that it will get caught up into the teeth. It took five minutes of my life the very first time I touched the zipper because it so effectively jammed the whole thing. It's one of those “What were they thinking? Were they even thinking?” times that make you just shake your head.

It would have been nice if the blue ribbon had been placed on the other edge of the zipper so that you could close the zipper while leaving the blue ribbon out, thereby allowing, if you wanted, access to whatever you attached to the ribbon while the zipper was closed. It seems to be an obvious choice, but perhaps there's some other consideration that makes that design unattractive?

Besides the body-facing zippered compartment and the three cavernous lens compartments, the only storage is a small pocket on the outward-facing side (just below my hand in “In Use” above). It's good for a cell phone or a GPS unit.

Overall, the design of the storage with this bag seems really sub par, especially compared to that of the other Think Tank bag I have. We're back again at the “I'm not a bag designer” nor an expert in the bag market, but I think it could have been done much better. I'd start by putting little memory-card pockets just inside the lip of the main bag, just as in the other Think Tank bag I have. I'd add a low-profile pleated compartment on the outward-facing side of the bag instead of the dinky cell-phone pouch, and I'd throw away the entire flap-closure “solution” (their ridiculous, bulky, kludgy, uber-geeky “Sound Silencer” expanses of Velcro) and design something... anything... else.

And since it's a bag explicitly for lenses, I'd also have thin pockets at the lip, opposite those for the memory cards, for filters or lens caps.

(For the record, I wouldn't make the strap detachable, since my personal desire for a detachable strap is outside the bag's target use.)

Despite these silly design decisions, on average I'm pleased with the setup I've come up with. It feels great, looks stylish (except for the hanging strap, and for the person it's attached to), doesn't get heavy even after many hours trekking through mountain paths, is easy-on and easy-off, but is held secure, and as I said, the bag build quality is first rate.

Here are some other random shots I collected from Paul and Nicolas, who joined me on the trip to the temple....

E-P2 + LUMIX G VARIO 14-45/F3.5-5.6 at an effective 84mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 — map & image data
photo by Nicolas Joannin

E-P2 + LUMIX G VARIO 14-45/F3.5-5.6 at an effective 42mm — ¹/13 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100 — map & image data
Chatting With Fellow Visitors
photo by Nicolas Joannin

E-P2 — ¹/160 sec, ISO 100 — map & image data
photo by Nicolas Joannin

Nikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 42mm — ¹/500 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
photo by Paul Barr

E-P2 — ¹/80 sec, ISO 100 — map & image data
photo by Nicolas Joannin

I'll probably end up getting rid of the shoulder strap, but may try to rubber-band it out of the way behind the bag, or something, before I bring the knife to bear.

I'm finally following up on last month's “A Bit of Wine Tasting at Kyoto Station”, with what amounts to a bunch of pictures of people pouring wine. In this case the people puring wine are employees at various importers or wineries who were assigned to work the table for their company at the event. For some reason, I like the collection of mostly-blurred faces...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Fill'er Up

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Unflappably Calm
amid a hustle of bustle

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1600 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 900 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Some People
just look like they really know their stuff

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 720 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Pretty Nice
as far as business trips go

Luc (smiling at left), chef of Chez Luc, was there to shop for wines for his restaurant. Shimada-san (foreground left) acted as his interpreter, except when the presenter spoke French (or English or German), as the young man at right did.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 900 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2000 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2800 — full exif & map — nearby photos
To Each Their Own
I can't disagree with his selections, but my top pick would be different

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1800 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Fiesta in a Bottle
Sangria Peñasol

I'd never before had a sangria that didn't taste like some kind of yucky adult Kool-Aid, but this Sangria Peñasol was really good, and the gentleman pouring it (who spoke Spanish, no less) was most delighted to share this joy with us.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1600 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Ice Wine
everyone was surprised when I mentioned that Ohio produced Ice Wine as well

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Apparently
good enough to follow up on

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 800 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Lotsa French Wines

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1250 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 720 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Dumping the Leftovers
after the event ended

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 3600 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Fin

First there was the walk to lunch (“On The Way To Lunch: Eastern-Kyoto Stroll”), then lunch (“Delicious Yuba Lunch at Junsei”), and now the walk home...

We came across an ultra-fluffy yaezakura cherry that comes out late (a variety seen five years ago on my blog in “10 Gallons of Blossoms on a 5-Gallon Branch”). It seemed all the more fluffy set off by the new-growth green of the trees around it...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — full exif & map — nearby photos
A Bit Overwhelming
I like this variety better from a distance

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
( the blossoms in the picture were much closer than Paul, who was aiming at something else )

It was a pleasant day in a pleasant area...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Random Street Scene
( photographically uninteresting, but hopefully conveys a sense of relaxed “pleasant” )

One property we came by had a bunch of trees that seemed to glow in an unearthly way that stopped everyone in their tracks... it was just amazing, but these photos capture none of it )-:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Unearthly Phosphorescent
the new-growth leaves leave jaws dropped

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — full exif & map — nearby photos

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I don't know whether this glowing effect was hindered or helped by the weird lighting we had all day, due to a particularly thick treatment of kosa haze, a fine yellow dust that blows in from China.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Green Reflection

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
“I Heard You Like Doors”
well textured by the weather
( I would have liked to step a few paces further back for this shot )

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As we were approaching Maruyama Park, I thought to take a small street that I'd not really noticed before, and I was shocked to find a whole section of town I'd not known about. Here's the entrance to a temple I'd not known about, chorakuji, which judging by the name (“long fun temple”) may end up becoming my favorite temple.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Choraku-ji Temple
Kyoto, Japan

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We were in a rush so didn't stop in, but I plan to remedy that soon.

This was near the temple seen in “Some Temple or Other” on the earlier on-the-way-to-lunch post, a temple that also remains unexplored. I was stunned to find these places and some of the others seen later in this post because I used to live just a third of a mile away, but I never knew about it. Part of the reason might be that it's all behind Maruyama Park, a popular park that I have a strong dislike for because it's the poster child for the ugly side of cherry-blossom viewing. So, I have tended to avoid the area and proactively ignore anything I felt connected with it, but it seems I've thrown out some impressive babies with the ugly-crowd bath water.

Continuing on this “secret” (from me) road, we passed a number of inns, including one whose front “lawn” was certainly made more impressive by the kosa-induced lighting:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Front Lawn
of sorts

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Brilliantly Glowing Red
entrance to something or other

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Suddenly Monochromatic
rear view of the Chiyo-in Temple

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Nice Parking Spot

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Somewhat Foreboding

Descending back into the park to head home, I couldn't help but snap some low-hanging (in the literal sense) blossoms...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3600 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Dainty

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Stroll
watching the geese and ducks

I was running quite late so had to high-tail it home, but the afternoon was an enjoyable walk followed by an enjoyable lunch followed by an enjoyable walk that only left me more hungry, so to speak, for more.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/125 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 — full exif
Counter Attack
photo by Anthony Matsunaka Friedl

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1400 — full exif
Replete With Gas Mask
photo by Anthony Matsunaka Friedl

Anthony still really enjoys his LEGOs, making “mockups” like the Clones vs. Droids Battle I posted last year. It's been fun to see his play progress from simple add-ons to toys when he was three years old, to mimicking airport security after some flights when he was four, to car repair and advanced flight design and intergalactic speeders to a full cityscape to complex combinations of Lord knows what.

Now at nine years old, he still enjoys his LEGO and saves almost all his allowance for it.

A month or so ago he was very happy to find Swedish retailer Warehouse19. They sell small LEGO sets, as well as custom pieces not made by LEGO but designed to fit into the Legoverse. They have all kinds of hats, helmets, guns, armor... all stuff to whet a 9-year-old boy's imagination.

Anthony ordered three tough-looking minifigures and enough kit to deck them out in an appropriately “cool” style, as well as a bazillion flowers and other plant pieces. He had a specific mockup in his mind that he intended to make for them, involving the overgrown grounds of an abandoned castle. (Because it's abandoned and overgrown, he needed a lot of plants to sprinkle around, so a large portion of his allowance went toward that.)

He was so excited about it that he built most of the mockup just after we ordered, so all that remained was to insert everything from the order once it arrived. However, when it came less than a week later, Anthony was crushed because I had mistakenly forgotten to order a light-colored helmet, and that one missing piece caused everything to grind to a halt. (His imagination was pretty well fixed on what he wanted, so the missing piece was a show stopper.)

There was another problem with the order... Warehouse19 had sent too many of the flowers. But since I was going to place another order for the helmet, I thought I'd just pay for the flowers rather than go to the hassle of returning them, so I wrote Warehouse19 a note about the helmet (please send) and flowers (I'll pay; just send the five needed stems) and immediately got a reply that they'd be happy to just send it all For free.

And they did.

They merely asked that we tell our friends about them... good word of mouth, you know... so I let them known that I'd certainly be doing a blog post about it because I like to capture Anthony's creativity.

However, I'm still my lazy self, so it took a month before getting around to taking the pictures. I suppose it's a testament to Anthony's happiness with the result that the mockup has lasted that long. I'm prompted to make this post now because he's ready to place another order with Warehouse19, and I feel we should give this public thanks for their kindness before we move on to another order.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/80 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 — full exif
Heavy Armor
photo by Anthony Matsunaka Friedl

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 — full exif
Overgrown Steps to the Abandoned Castle
( you should see the castle in your imagination )
photo by Anthony Matsunaka Friedl

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 — full exif
Prior Tenant?
photo by Anthony Matsunaka Friedl

I had taken a bunch of photos for this post, but then Anthony wanted to as well, and his were just great, so I used them instead. Of mine, I'll just show two wide views....

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — full exif
Bird's-Eye View
I really should have used a polarizing filter

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/4, ISO 6400 — full exif

The other day in “On The Way To Lunch: Eastern-Kyoto Stroll” I ended with a few shots of the girls above taking advantage of a photogenic location, made more so for everyone else by their presence.

I was heading to the Kiyomizu branch of the most excellent Junsei Tofu Restaurant to have lunch with Paul Barr. The branch is so named because it's near the front gate of the Kiyomizu Temple, in an area that usually packed with tourists, so the quiet elegance of the restaurant is a welcome relief from the crowds. I learned of it from a friend who occasionally helps out with running the place.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3600 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Exceedingly Fresh Yuba
At the Kiyomizu “Junsei” Restaurant (順正清水店)
Kyoto, Japan

The place is known for its tofu, always made that day, but having been there a couple of times in the last month, I've decided that I prefer the opportunity for extremely fresh yuba (湯葉) — “tofu skin” — which literally develops before your eyes on a heated dish of soy milk.

Once the “skin” forms, you lift it with a bamboo stick...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/640 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Bite-Sized Portion
skimmed from the top of a heated dish of soy milk

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Dip in a Light Sauce

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/640 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Ready to Enjoy

Tofu generally doesn't have much taste on its own, but can take on a wonderful range of tastes when artfully prepared. Yuba, on the other hand, does have its own very yummy taste.

The set yuba lunch comes with a lot of stuff besides the yuba itself, and at ¥2,150 is a great value. The entrance to the restaurant is here (but note that the building is too new to be shown on the satellite view.).

After installing the free base app and purchasing the $1.99 “import maps from PC” feature, I could import maps made on my laptop by following these instructions. I made maps for large areas of Kyoto using both Google and Yahoo! Japan Maps (and was surprised to find out that somewhere along the lines the Yahoo! Japan maps have become superior).

The resulting 2GB database files are then copied to the app, and voila, I have wonderfully-interactive no-WiFi-required maps of the area. I love it.

I also spent a whopping $1.99 extra to enable the bookmarking feature. $4 for this app is amazing to me.

Sadly, when I bought my iPad a couple of years ago, I didn't realize that the WiFi-only models had no GPS antenna, so when I'm out in the mountains I have to actually read the map and look at my surroundings to figure out where I am. I may not survive. Perhaps this is sufficient reason to get a new iPad, being sure to get the GPS (and now presumably GLONASS) antenna.