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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/2000 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Newly-Planted Rice
mountain countryside of Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

The trip the other day that produced “Exquisite Beauty Growing Like a Weed by the Side of the Road” was a lazy no-plan drive through some sparsely-populated mountains south-east of Kyoto, in Uji City (famous as the setting for The Tale of Genji, so I hear). Driving on the edge of a small valley, the views of the rice paddies were stereotypical small-village Japan...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Weeding

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Garden and Rice

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Neighborly Chat

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Play

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Kind of Play
Paul Barr giving my lens a try

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

This was the first outing of my little lens with a proper monopod. It's the same monopod body I've had for years, but I got rid of the piece-of-crap Manfrotto #3232 head, replacing it with the Really Right Stuff MH-01 Hi-Capacity Monopod Head that, despite the Kool-Kidz “Hi” instead of “High”, is a solid, well-made head that far outclasses the Manfrotto head it replaced.

Here's another of the Roadside Beauty shots, almost identical to one I posted the other day, but the plane of focus in this one is just a smidgen further back such that almost nothing appears to be in focus, giving it a completely different vibe when viewed full screen...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Thin Slice

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Filling Their Time
waiting for me to finish with the flower

They were photographing what looks to be a man planting rice by hand...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/2500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Backbreaking

About from that same spot, but looking a bit to the right, was a nice path...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Country Lane

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... and turning further brings us to the entrance of a small local shrine, Kiyotakiguu (清瀧宮), which I'll post more about another time...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/2000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shrine Entrance

The grass near the base of the gate was almost glowing green in its light ethereal airiness...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Simple Grass

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Other nearby scenes included stacked wood and an old thatched storage shed...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

Continued here...