Last fall I discovered the largest hamburger I'd ever seen in real life, at the restaurant "Hagi" (萩) a couple of kilometers west of Kyoto Station. I went back today with Paul Barr (with whom I'd discovered it, as seen in this photo in front of the restaurant) and another friend to give the burger another try.

Three hamburger patties, egg, bacon, and Lord knows what else... it was big, but not nearly as big as I remembered it from before. I was a bit disappointed. Still, it towered over the plate... a plate so deep that the little minifig [...]

This evening I went to a large (for Kyoto) wine-tasting event at Kyoto Station, sponsored by Liquor Mountain (a sort of Trader Joe's of central Japan). I don't know anything about wine other than "tasty, not tasty, untried", so today was able to bolster the ranks of the first two categories.

I went with Shimada-san, Paul Barr, and another friend, Luc...

It was interesting to be able to taste (and compare/contrast) so many different products. I learned that there was no correlation between price and whether I liked it. I kept notes on a few I really liked, so I'll [...]

I've found especially this spring that I tend to use the Voigtländer 125mm more than ever, and seem to be falling into the easy-pickings trap of macro flora photography. I guess it's a phase.

This seemed particularly evident to me the other day on the outing with Paul Barr that produced "Photographer's Low-Hanging Fruit: a Pretty Flower", which this post is essentially a continuation of.

To be continued...

Picking up from yesterday's intro post on the Ishiyama Temple (石山寺) half an hour away in Otsu, Japan, here are a few more shots from early in the visit to the large mountainous grounds...

To be continued...

Taking pictures of growing flowers is about as challenging as I imagine it would be to photograph animals caged in a zoo... the only thing easier would be pictures of non-growing flowers, e.g. cut and arranged flowers, as I've done many times (including here, here, here, here, and here, among others), which is perhaps comparable to photographing animals after the taxidermist has finished.

Still, pretty is pretty, so here we are.

I discovered this particular flower along a path while I was out in Kyoto with Paul Barr today. My discovery came right after he pointed at it and said [...]