Visiting Anthony's kindergarten for their making-mochi event last January, I noticed this on a bulletin board. I thought it was cute, so I snapped a picture.

A shot from my recent Impossible Photography outing, where I used a very fast lens (Nikkor 50mm f/1.2) and the Nikon D700's low-light performance for some night photography in Kyoto.

This was the entrance foyer of a restaurant that had plenty of light.... I only needed ISO 1100 at f/1.2 and 1/100sec for the wider shot....

It reminds me a bit of the front desk at the Four Seasons Resort, Whistler, although this was perhaps more out of place.

The low-light performance still doesn't help with the problem of dynamic range.... of being able to capture/display the detail in dark [...]

Someone was shooting some movie scenes outside our window for hours today. That's the biggest hubbub our sleepy little town of Kyoto has seen since a Presidential visit in 2005, and part of the G8 Summit earlier in the summer, so I snapped a few shots, all from my livingroom window.

They were there for a long time... at least the six hours that I noticed them. They spent the most time on the shot on the bridge, coming back to it again and again over the course of the day. The two shots above look like essentially the same [...]

I haven't done much since returning to Japan a week ago. Tired from the trip... overwhelmed with work (that I don't even get paid for)... and spending an inordinate time at the doctor for some acute back problems. It's been a long week.

But I was feeling okay last night, so after Mass in downtown Kyoto, I thought I'd give my new Nikon D700's legendary low-light performance a spin, combining it with the fastest lens that I could get my hands on (that is, one that lets in the most light), the same Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 that I borrowed from [...]

As I wrote in my story about my visit to a Japanese High School, part of the visit was a group discussion with students about a wide variety of issues, including what they want to become later in life. The girls that hoped to raise a family said so somewhat sheepishly, as if being a mother wasn't "real" work.

I corrected them, pointing out that motherhood is an unsung, unappreciated, demanding job that society gives little credit for, but should. After Anthony was born, I called my mom and said "thanks, and sorry", because you really don't get it until [...]