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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sundrenched

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The picture above is not that special, but for some reason really grows on me as a desktop background. When viewed big, there's just something about it that I like, giving my current desktop-background image a run for its money.

It was the view just outside the window at the Toganojaya Restaurant in the north-west mountains of Kyoto, Japan, which we visited this past weekend (and was the subject of the four previous posts: one, two, three, and four). In this post are a few final pictures from that visit...

The same branch that heads out of frame in the lower left of the shot above reached all the way out over the river, and made a big canopy of backlit leaves....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/9, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Backlit

We figured that this place would be gorgeous during the fall when these momiji turn color, but one of the waiters told us that because it's cold here in the mountains, the leaves fall off before they really turn, so the view is at its most enjoyable now.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shichimi
Jar of seven-spices seasoning with the restaurant's name

Down by the river there was some bamboo with odd-looking growths..

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nail-Looking Growths
and a fuzzy little spider
( maybe this is where golf tees come from? )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Vampire Bamboo?

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/9, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mossy Embankment Wall

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 66 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/13, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Roof Covering

Up at the restaurant, they'd covered an ugly corrugated plastic awning with something that fit better into the “nature” thing they had going there. Like the bottle of spice with the commercial label replaced by a simple label with the restaurant name, or the vase near our table, the attention to detail succeeded so well because you didn't even notice it unless you looked.

For context, here's the roof from a few steps back:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/22, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/13, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Fumie read about this restaurant on a Japanese food blog that someone writes anonymously. They have good taste in restaurants and good writing/presentation skills... she also found the Kamo no Shirabe cafe we visited last year (and again this year) through that blog.

Continued here...