Today's "quiz" is sort of fake.... those familiar with Japan will be able to figure it out within a few seconds, while those who aren't won't get it at all. I'm putting it here just because those few seconds of trying to figure it out can be a bit eerie. That odd feeling is sort of fun, so I wanted to present this photo out of context to allow people to experience the "uh.............. okay, got it" feeling for themselves.

There are still a few traces of fall colors around Kyoto, one of the nicest in the little common garden area of my condo building. One of its trees is just at its peak color now, turning a vivid rich red when hit by direct sunlight, or, as happens every evening, by direct incandescent floodlights.

It's nothing special 10 minutes after sunset....

... but hours later, it's positively glowing....

None of these pictures really do it justice. Just like the other foliage backlit by floodlights photos I posted earlier in the season, the intense light causes detail and color to [...]

Kyoto doesn't get much snow. The surrounding mountains get plenty, but the city proper might not get any real snowfall all year, or maybe up to a few mornings of accumulation a season.

It's already been cold enough for snow... the temperature has dipped to freezing a few evenings, although during the day it's still bout 10°C (50°F). But since many in the Northern Hemisphere are already seeing their first snows, I thought I'd post a few more pictures from the few snows Kyoto had last winter.

The shots on today's post are from one morning in February were Anthony [...]

Almost two years ago I created and released my autofocus test chart, for testing the autofocus accuracy of a camera/lens combination. Accompanied by a detailed discussion about how to test autofocus, and of issues that might crop up, it has garnered a lot of attention. My daily logs tell me that it's still one of my most popular posts.

About a year ago, I was contacted by Michael Tapes of Michael Tapes Design (makers of the popular WhiBal white-balance reference card). They were working on a device to allow much more accurate/repeatable testing than my chart allowed, and he wanted [...]

Continuing along the lines of my previous two posts (on garments with silly English, and a confusing traffic sign), this is a picture I snapped last year at Osaka Castle Park when I was visiting with friends (and doing impromptu portraits and dodging paper airplanes).

It is, of course, the plainly-visible urinals on the men's half of an outside public bathroom near the castle.

I titled the image "uncharacteristic" not because of the visibility – most outside public bathrooms are more or less like this – but because this particular bathroom is much more clean and well lit than you're [...]