Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 18mm — 30 sec, f/4.5, ISO 100, P.P. boost: +1.24EV — map & image data — nearby photos
Easter Evening in Kyoto

After a day of cold drizzle yesterday, today (Easter Sunday) was glorious: sunny, warm, and cherry trees laden with blossoms. The area were I live was crazy-crowded, but I didn't have to endure it much because I was out most of the day.

I attended Easter Mass at 10am, which was full of mixed emotions because when I got there, I found out that the head priest, Fr. Asada, passed away this week. Every time I carried Anthony while going to receive communion, he'd pause to bless Anthony, then pat him on the head with a kindly “good kid.” He'd been sick for the last month or so.

After mass, I took Anthony to an Easter-egg hunt sponsored by “CLONES”, a name I don't care for but must begrudgingly admire for its wit. It stands for something along the lines of “Children Living with One Native English Speaker” or “Children with at Least One Native English-Speaking parent.” In any case, it's for bilingual kids, and Anthony found a few chocolate-filled plastic eggs, and made new friends.

After he was down for the evening, I went out to take a few pictures. The one above is facing the same direction as the top one from this night-sakura post from the other day, but from the bridge you can see in its far distance. It was really dark, so even the 30-second exposure needed some post-processing boost (to mimic a 71-second exposure).

(The building slightly visible toward the upper left is the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art)

Being so dark, that area wasn't getting much attention this evening. However, turning around to look back across the width of the bridge I was on, and there were plenty of people enjoying a brilliantly-lit bank of cherry trees (the same ones that can be seen on the left of the previously mentioned shot from the other day).

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1.3 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cherry-Blossom Fireworks

Ho-hum, more night long-exposure cherry-blossom pics. You must be getting bored of them by now, so here's a 15-second night shot without any cherry trees.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 15 sec, f/8, ISO 200, P.P. boost: +0.40EV — map & image data — nearby photos
Waiting for a Taxi Home