Revisiting last fall's ikebana (flower arranging) event at the Shoren'in Temple, previously seen in these posts:

Photography is not normally allowed in this temple, but it was for this event.

I ended up chatting with the American guy taking the photo above. It turns out that he had just met the lady in the kimono and done a quick picture, and when she happened by as we talked, he introduced us. She accepted my request to take a quick portrait; not wanting to keep her waiting, I suggested that I'd do it right then and there standing (coincidentally) about where [...]

We've been accumulating stuff we want to get rid of that's too big to put into the normal trash.... stuff that's become trash (an old couch, a large broken lamp, ...) or that we just don't need anymore (a photo printer, Anthony's old bicycle, an old LCD monitor...). There was a lot, and it was finally time to deal with it.

I searching on Yahoo! Japan (大型ゴミ 処分 京都) and picked 京都 不用品回収センター　とくとく, and I don't regret it.

I gave the guy a call, he came over an hour later with a little truck, and we looked at what I [...]
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This post is just a bunch of ultra-thin-depth-of-field shots taken with a Nikkor 300mm f/2 lens, at its maximum f/2 aperture. These all date back to 2011, after I first got the lens.

I have a category on my blog of articles with photos taken with this lens, but I'm prompted to post a collection like this after not being all that happy with the super-thin-depth-of-field shots that I shared the other day in "Kyoto's Souren-ji Temple at f/1.2". Many of the shots on today's post aren't all that great either, but some are nice, as were the 300mm/f2 shots [...]

In "Kyoto's Souren-ji Temple at f/1.2" the other day, I shared some ultra-thin-depth-of-field shots taken with a 50mm f/1.2 lens. A thin depth of field can be distracting, or it can make for a great effect -- one that I'm quite partial to -- but I didn't think the shots on that post were all that strong... just odd/different (and colorful).

So, for today's post, I was thinking to share some better examples, but I ran out of time to do the writeup I wanted, so instead I'll just share a couple of cute shots that happen to have a [...]

Going back into my archives again, to last April's visit to the Suntory Whisky Distillery in Yamazaki, 20 minutes south of Kyoto. It's Japan's oldest whisky distillery, and offers free tours daily.

Here's one photo to remind you of the initial post...

One thing I didn't cover in that is the photogenic "Whisky Museum", housing more than 7,000 samples of whisky and assorted spirits taken over the years.

The distillery is near a train station, and you have to cross the tracks near the front gate...

I don't really care for whisky, but I love the smells around the place, [...]