Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/50 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Milling About
35 minutes before the start
at the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest (嵐山竹やぶ), Kyoto Japan

I'm finally getting around to posting some more shots of the Arashiyama (area of Kyoto) evening bamboo lightup (京都嵐山竹やぶの花灯路) from a week or two ago. (I'd posted one shot that evening.)

It was just above freezing, with blustery wind and occasional rain/sleet. Not really a pleasant environment, but it kept the crowds down during the main event to simply “very crowded”.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/100 sec, f/1.4, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op for All

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/50 sec, f/5.6, ISO 8000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oblivious

This lady stood there for the longest time, staring at me with a blank “what is that thing?” look on her face. On the outside I just stood there next to my camera on a tripod... looking like a photographer taking photographs... with a congenial but passive smile on my face, but inside I was screaming “Uh, hello, can't you see what I'm doing? Are you dense!?”. It was as if she had never seen a foreigner before, or perhaps she had never seen a camera and wondered what the strange device was.

The path was almost completely empty, an improbable event that would not repeat itself for the rest of the night, and she was completely ruining my shot, but it's not my path, so she has every right to be there as much as I do, so outwardly I just smiled.

Anyway, I have a nice shot of this path here from last year's “Mike Bennett's Last Day in Kyoto: Arashiyama Bike Ride” post.

There was still another 35 minutes to go before the lightup started, so I decided to walk along the path back toward town...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/25 sec, f/1.4, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hilly

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/25 sec, f/7.1, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gully
with some buildings of the Tenryuji Temple on the other side

Desktop-Background Versions
1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — ¹/40 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Relatively Urban

Back at the end of the path where I'd started, just before the lightup started, it had grown quiet dark...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 2.5 sec, f/8, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dusk
with a glow from a sign light off to the left

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 2.5 sec, f/8, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Five Seconds Later
taken at the same exposure as the previous shot

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 2.5 sec, f/9, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slow Start
soon the crowds would be teeming

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 2.5 sec, f/9, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Last Respite
for the next few hours

Vertical Desktop-Background Versions
1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2560

Continued here...