What a difference a day makes – I feel so much better today than yesterday. It's great to be alive.

So, I can finally write about my first outing with my new Nikon D200, which was before I got my cold. The Kyoto City Fire Department had their annual New Year Exhibition, pretty much just outside our front door. According to the press release, there were some 3,000 people, 57 vehicles, and 5 helicopters involved – numbers that add up to fun and interest for Anthony.

I'd only received my camera the previous evening, and for the most part had no idea really how to use it. I put in on aperture-priority and left my lens wide open, and for the most part let the camera figure out the rest. I wanted the lens wide open because a tangibly short depth of field was something I could play with right off the bat. (I do remember something from my high-school photography-nerd days.)

It started out sunny, and the pictures came out fine, but as it became overcast and dreary, the pictures showed more and more that I wasn't doing something right. (I just got the English manual today, so hopefully I can dig in and start learning soon.)

I had the camera produce the smallest JPG it can (1,296 x 1,936 pixels – about 2.5 megapixels), which is what all these pictures are derived from. I also had it produce, in parallel, a full-detail raw version of each image, which I can refer to if I eventually need the full 10-megapixel 3,872 × 2,592 glory for any particular picture.

Anyway, on with the photos. The full complement of photos can be found on our photo site. What follows now are just a few highlights....

Fire trucks waiting to take part in the parade

Checking out the trucks

Lots of people standing at attention for the speeches

Watching the band mustering in preparation.

Mommy's first time with Daddy's big new camera and she pulled it off like a pro

My attempt at an interesting shot

A “Super Command Rescue Team” Hummer-wannabe vehicle.

A line of at least eight water-squirting, exceedingly tall ladders fades way into the distance

Checking out the window of a local police box

Not really in a take-my-picture mood

A bit of orange juice makes everything better

Oops! Taking a detour through a rock garden on the way home

Checking out the pidgins, and being checked out

In the end, being fussy and not wanting to hold hands while near the road results in your getting picked up and carried like a sac of (squirming) potatoes.

Again, the full series is on our photo site.