Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/750 sec, f/5, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Biei, Hokkaido, May 2007

As I mentioned yesterday, Biei, Hokkaido is a really pretty area, and we went three days in a row. Each day's weather was different, so each had its own feel.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 80mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/3.5, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Fields Means Lotsa' Plowing

The fields all seem to be in different states, with some recently plowed (deep brown dirt), some green (grass?), some dried yellow dirt. A very few had dotted rows of tiny seedlings that could be seen only up close.

I loved the endless combinations of rows, colors, and shapes, along with the many different types of backdrops. I was forever stopping to take pictures; Fumie is a patient woman.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/3.5, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Colorless Field in Biei

The mountain peak above is 20km (12 miles) away. The field extended that far, if not further..... (or seemed to).

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Colorful Field in Biei

That last picture above was one of the last I took on our trip. We were tired and heading home, but even if not, it likely would have been the last for a while because I paid dearly to get it.

I already was in “drive home” mode and thought I was done with photography for the day, but upon seeing the farmers and machines silhouetted on the horizon, combined with the stunning green, well, I had to stop for the picture.

There were some trees in the foreground that I wanted not to be in the picture, and conveniently, there were big mounds of hard dirt piled by the side of the very rural road we were traveling. They were three or four feet high, so I thought to step up on them to raise my vantage point for the shot.

(Farmers in the audience can certainly see where this is going....)

In short, I was mistaken about two things: they weren't mounds of dried dirt (only the outside shell was dry and hard), and they weren't mounds of dried dirt. At my first step onto them, my shoe broke through the thin dry shell into something soft and gooey. I instinctively muttered a four-letter expletive, and indeed, it turns out that assessment of the substance was correct.

To be continued . . . . . .