Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.5, ISO 360 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Clearing Vines

Mom thought the vines on the side of the house had crossed over from “quaint” to “a bit too much”, so we cleared them off for the first time in years. Of course, Anthony was excited to help as long as it meant climbing the ladder.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1100 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Safety First

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 29 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 220 — full exif & map — nearby photos

I went up to tidy some small bits...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Tidying Up
Photo by Anthony

The siding looks dirty, but it's actually all the remains of the adhesive tendrils of the vines...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/16, ISO 1250 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Remains of the Vine's Adhesive Tendrils

These things seem to adhere on the molecular level; when I would try to pull them off of the wooden fences at my place in California when I lived there, they would take bits of wood with them because the bond was stronger than the wood. Amazing....

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/11, ISO 1800 — full exif & map — nearby photos
These Bonds are Forever

I searched around on the web but couldn't find anything on what this adhesive is or how on earth the plant makes it.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 32 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5, ISO 220 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Checking Out The View From Above
one last time

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Back at Play

The little edge of roof I'm standing on in “Tidying Up” above is covered with the same standard asphalt roofing shingles that cover the rest of the roof, and while they look bland and uniform from a distance, up close with a good macro lens they show all kinds of detail...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Roofing Shingles
perhaps 1/8th of an inch thick

This is, of course, the answer to the Rocky “What am I?” Quiz from the other day.

After 15+ hours of flying, and 6+ hours of layovers, we're back in Kyoto after our annual summer visit to my folks. Cloud pictures make for easy posting fodder when I'm jetlagged, and though I didn't see another plane out the window, some big dynamic clouds made for some interest during a brief span a half an hour out of Tokyo. Previous years' “Back in Kyoto” posts (2009 · 2008 · 2007 · 2006 · 2005) tended to also include an “Anthony sleeping on the plane” picture, but with not much room this time he slept with his head in my lap, so I was sort of stuck.

I cropped a small bit of the plane window off the bottom of the picture above, but otherwise that's pretty much what it looked like. Lots of strong shadows and bubbling towers. I didn't realize it at the time, but you can see mountains in the far distance.

Going wider brought some of the blue sky in, but also made it harder to shoot “through” the dirt on the window...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/13, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
10 Minutes Later and 3½ Miles Lower

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
A Minute Later and a Mile Lower
last of the big stuff

By this time our horizontal speed (“ground speed”) had slowed to less than 500mph, but we were bleeding altitude as if we were going straight down at 37mph. Couldn't tell a thing about the speed at the time, though.

A few minutes later and the big stuff was all left behind, and we were about to descend into the heavy haze that is “summer in Japan”. A big monster cloud in the distance provided a backdrop...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Dipping Into the Haze

It looks similar to this Tokyo big-cloud shot, but I think that was taken the previous day, so it's probably just coincidental.

On the way out near the start of our trip, between Cleveland and Chicago, I was startled to look out the window of the plane to see what immediately struck me as the splat of a giant bird poop:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
hazy dayz in
Birdpoop City

As I've posted many times, we're well acquainted with birds and all that goes with them, so perhaps that's why the visual association came to mind. My apologizes to Fostoria, Ohio for the momentary ill-mannered thought.

I put up my previous “What am I?” quiz (“Just-Arrived-After-a-Long-Flight “What am I?” Quiz) after I arrived for a summer at my folks' place a month ago, but now that I'm ready to spend the next couple of days in a tin can for our return to Kyoto, it seems reasonable to put up another quiz.

Any guesses left in the comments will remain hidden from public view until jet lag starts to relinquish its hold on me this weekend.

The lens on the left is a new AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens, and on the right is a circa-1969 Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f/1.4.

The modern version has autofocus and a built-in CPU that communicates details about settings to the camera body, but is also made of plastic rather than the steel of the original, and comes completely devoid of character. Foremost a lens is a tool, but I wish it would at least aspire to look good.

Modern Nikon lenses may well be optically wonderful, but looks-wise, they look to me now the same way that 80s hairstyles look to me now. Ugh.

Anthony again attended the birthday part of a family friend, Katie Patterson. Last year was bowling. This year was rock climbing.

Katie was turning six, and not intimidated by The Wall at all...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — full exif
Birthday Girl
Katie goes past vertical

Anthony, on the other hand, was not so unintimidated, and it took a while for him to want to try it.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 4500 — full exif
Getting Harnessed Up
( I had good focus on similar shots, but I liked the hands in this one, even if out of focus )

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — full exif
Locking the Carabiner

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3600 — full exif
First Steps

He quickly decided he didn't like it, and descended.

Most of the other kids were eager to climb...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — full exif
Quintessential Spiderman Shot
Griffin tackles the far route

Anthony eventually decided to try again...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — full exif
Past the Difficult Part
and heading to the top

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2800 — full exif
Made It

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — full exif
Coming Down

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — full exif
Enjoying the Ride with Pride

In a previous life I used to do a lot of rock climbing, but I gave it up when I got married because my wedding ring would cut painfully into my finger, and I wouldn't take off the ring. (I've never had it off, and don't intend to.)

Now I'm older, fatter, weaker, and less skilled, so I have no idea why I thought to give it a try.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — full exif
Locking the Carabiner
these photos by Ray Patterson

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — full exif
Mild Reverse Incline
meant it was a bit harder than a ladder

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — full exif
Arms of Jelly

My arms quickly turned to jelly. This climb was little more than a bumpy ladder, and back in the day I would have never even bothered with it, but it was quite beyond my abilities now, so I cheated without remorse, figuring not many would even realize that I was cheating.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — full exif
“Borrowing” a Foothold
from a different route

Anthony was happy that I had tried, and I was happy that I didn't kill myself in front of an audience.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — full exif
Best Part
coming down

There was ample time for climbing (all the kinds and a few of the parents), and then it was time for copious amounts of cake...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — full exif
Blowing Out Her Candle
Katie Patterson turns 6

A couple of weeks ago in “Cousin Jena at th Lake”, I noted that 1-year-old Jena had taken a sprig of Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) to Grandma. After this, Grandma told me something surprising about Queen Anne's Lace that sent me back to with my camera...

As seen in the photo above, and in the close-up crop here, each “head” is a collection of a bunch of little off-white flowers...

( crop from the photo above )

If you happen to look a little closely, you may notice something else...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos

What might appear to be a bug of some sort if you notice it at all, is really a small purple flower...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/4000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Central Purple

Every head has one (and sometimes a few) tiny dark purple flower in the center. I'd never noticed.

Of course, not everything that looks like a bug at first glance is not a bug...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Couple'a Critters

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
On the Hunt?

I thought the bigger ant might be looking to dine on the first bug, but it walked right past without any apparent notice...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Ships Passing in the Night

The heads of flowers, before they open, make for quite a sight as well...
I thought this looked like a young head about to open, but my mom informs me that it's an old head curling up...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/8, ISO 560 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Somehow they look like a bunch of tiny Venus Flytraps.

Our summer visit to The States is running down, and we've been so busy with family stuff and summer homework that it's hard to squeeze out time to process my photos and to write a post.

Last week, Anthony played at a community pool with a friend, 10-year-old Michael, and his next-door neighbor, 9-year-old Kenny....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/9, ISO 250 — full exif & map — nearby photos
left to right:
Michael, Anthony, Kenny

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/6400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
near to far:
Anthony, Michael, (and in mid air) Kenny

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 340 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Hunk
(sort of)

I thought this photo reminded me of the three-year-old Anthony “Hunk” photo, but now that I compare directly, it's not quite there, but I'll put the photo and link here anyway.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 420 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Happy Kid Play

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Riding “Kibbles”
the blow-up blue killer whale

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/5000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Ride'em Cowboy

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/4000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Enjoying
the fruits of a well-aimed splosh

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Kibbles Defends Kenny
from Michael's splosh-gun attack

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Michael is
Unflappable

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 140 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/8, ISO 280 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Playing “Ladies First”

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 380 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
My Kid Is In There Somewhere

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Untitled
it pretty much speaks for itself

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/5000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Kenny valiantly
Defending the Ship

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/4000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
It's a Tough Life
but somebody's got to play in it

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
inspecting the
Mystery Cavern

Since finally getting a real macro lens (a Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5), my world has opened up to enjoying some of the smaller things in (and forms of) life. Sometimes, such as with the photo above, a complete lack of scale pretty much kills the “oh, tiny!” appeal, especially these days when the same shallow depth of field can be achieved with a tilt lens or the Brenizer method.

Zooming back a bit somehow helps establish the smallness of the scale...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 560 — full exif & map — nearby photos

... but without context, it's still lacking something. We like context, and search for it, and feel odd when we don't get it.

The context in this case is a bush near the corner of my youngest brother's wife's mother's brother's house, which I had occasion to visit today:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — full exif & map — nearby photos

So, perhaps context isn't all it's cracked up to be.

You can barely see the scarlet pink in the photo above, as most of the plant was bare:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 1800 — full exif & map — nearby photos

But oddly, there were a few sections that held baby-new growth...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 3600 — full exif & map — nearby photos

... so it seems the plant had no idea what season it was.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 3200 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Curl
f/8 not as helpful as I had hoped

A big part of the experience of visiting my folks' in Ohio is feeding the birds on the back porch, and for me, trying to photograph them (such as reported with varying degrees of success here, here, here, and here). Usually I just run out for a quick picture, but the other day I sat down with a cup of coffee and a big lens and tried spending just a bit more effort on it...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/9, ISO 640 — full exif & map — nearby photos

I started out using the Voigtländer 125mm, but for the goldfinches on the feeder that I intended to concentrate on, it required me to be too close to have a bird fill the frame. (Unlike the chickadees that will land on your laptop while you're using it; the goldfinches are more skittish.)

So, I switched to the Sigma Bigma 50-500mm zoom, which at 500mm has enough reach to put me far enough away from the birds. Its image stabilization helped a lot, too.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/13, ISO 1250 — full exif & map — nearby photos
The Scene
with the Sigma at 50mm

My sister snapped a picture of me while I was at it:

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Photo by Marci Kreta
taken through a window covered with netting, as seen here

My results were “okay”, but nothing exciting...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/13, ISO 1250 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Even at f/13, at 500mm the depth of field was pretty thin. In the picture above, I think I got the focus pretty close to his eye, but even then, his near shoulder is already out of focus...

With a sideways crop, the bird fills the frame a bit more, so maybe the 500mm really wasn't enough...

D700 + Sigma “Bigma” @ 500 mm, cropped — ¹/500 sec, f/9, ISO 1400 — full exif & map — nearby photos

D700 + Sigma “Bigma” @ 500 mm, cropped — ¹/500 sec, f/13, ISO 4000 — full exif & map — nearby photos

I could try with the Sigma 2× TC to give me 1,000mm, but as I demonstrated once, the combination is really soft.

The Bigma's zoom was useful to open up to get this shot of a tree not far away.... there's a goldfinch in it. Can you find it?

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/13, ISO 560 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Find the Goldfinch
he's sitting in the tree

Often when I look out the window from the house, I'll see a dozen or more birds all crowded on the feeder, but while I was there (perhaps because I was there), there weren't many. Early on there was a minor traffic jam with four birds...

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 116 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/9, ISO 800 — full exif & map — nearby photos

... but for the most part, it seems that action moved to a feeder down at the end of the veranda:

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 340 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/13, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Farther Away

At least its lighting was nicer.

Continuing along from yesterday's post about kanji-study apps and the previous day's app review by a toddler, this post is just some cute (to me) pictures of the kids playing Air Hockey on the iPad.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Mano a Mano
Anthony and Josh playing flipside5 Air Hockey, one of many air hockey games for the iPad

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
23-Month-Old Jena Getting in on the Fun

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

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

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Score!
the screen flashes red to indicate a score; apparently, Anthony was able to get by Jena's defenses

We try not to let the kids do too much with computer games, but it was the day Josh and Jena were returning home, so wanted to indulge them a bit. They knew air hockey from previous real-life experiences, such as this from last week...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 560 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Concentration
Anthony anticipates Josh's attack

... and this from a year ago...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1400 — full exif & map — nearby photos
Aaaaaaaaaaa
While playing against Cousin Grace, three-year-old Josh plans to eat the puck if it gets past his defenses?