Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tourist Snapshot
Near the Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺の周辺), Kyoto Japan

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During my outing the other day near Kyoto's famous Kiyomizu Temple, the crowds were out in force, but the atmosphere was still quite pleasant. It helped that it was the nicest day, weather wise, in ages... warm, with no rain.

Amidst the hustle and bustle in the area outside the temple, these two ladies somehow found a wonderful backdrop inexplicably devoid of people, so one posed for the other, creating the kind of nature+kimono scene I'm partial to.

Mostly I thought it'd look better to focus on the photographer to leave the subject of her photo out of focus in my photo, but for reference, here's the other way around...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Getting Just the Right Angle

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 110 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lovely

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Checking the Results

I then went up to offer (in Japanese) to take a shot of both of them with their own camera, to which they replied in English that they didn't speak Japanese... they're on vacation from China. Hopefully the shot I took of them came out and makes a nice memory of their visit to Kyoto.

Continued here...

I've just released a new plugin for Adobe Lightroom, to publish directly to Google Drive. I got a number of requests after Trey Ratcliff mentioned how Google Drive can allow you to display full-resolution photos in Google Plus (in his article “Google+ Now Allows Full-Rez Photos!”), so I whipped the plugin together.

I don't know whether Trey uses Lightroom, but if he does, he may find this of use, but considering his tendency toward HDR, he probably works more in Photoshop. Anyway, perhaps someone will find this useful.

Here it is:   Jeffrey’s “Export to Google Drive” Lightroom Plugin

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 180 — map & image data — nearby photos
Dr. Katrin Philippar
she knows her plant proteins and stuff

In the 80s my folks hosted an exchange student from Germany. We've kept in touch since, and she stopped by Kyoto last weekend on her way to give a talk at a plant-biology conference in Okayama.

The pleasant walk along the Kamo river that I posted about yesterday was on my way meet Katrin for the day's outing. We'd arranged to meet in front of a clock on the south side of Kyoto Station....

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 135mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Reasonable Hotel
Reasonably Close to Kyoto Station

It's a popular time to be in Kyoto, so the hotel at the station is ridiculously priced (~US400/night!), so I was thrilled when Fumie found a much more reasonable option, the Daiwa Roynet Hotel Kyoto - Hachijoguchi. It's new, clean, and not even a five minutes stroll to the south... in the photo above, taken from Kyoto Station, it's the building to the right of center with large lettering running up and down. Recommended.

You can visit Kyoto for 10 years and not see everything, so it's a challenge to pick what to offer someone in town for just a couple of days, but she had a guide book and said she wanted to see the temple just north of the station, so off we headed. It's huge and famous, but I'd never visited.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 86mm — ¹/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 140 — map & image data — nearby photos
Doing the “Ritual Cleansing” Thing
at the Higashi Honganji Temple (東本願寺)
Kyoto, Japan

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quiet Time

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Bell
409 years old

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 180mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bell Detail

In an amazing coincidence, Katrin ran into a colleague from another institution, who happened to be in Japan, but not for the conference Katrin was attending. I think they chatted about enzyme transports or something.

Anyway, the Higashi Honganji Temple, though huge and venerable, lacks any sense of nature and feels quite sterile, so we (Paul Barr was with us) took her to a more visually appealing spot, the Kiyomizu Temple. It's crowded and touristy, but for good reason, it's nice.

But instead of going there directly, I thought we walk through the huge cemetery on one side of the hill leading up to it, a cemetery that I've seen many times from a nearby overpass, but had never been to.

We arrived at the entrance I've driven past so many times...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 95mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Entrance from the Street
the Ootani Honbyo Temple (大谷本廟)
(also known as the Nishi Otani Temple, 西大谷)
from the corner of Gojo and Higashioji Streets

This relatively little temple is in front of the huge cemetery...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Cemetery
dating back about 900 years

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 175mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mottled

A the time the color of this stone really struck me as being interesting, but it seems much less so now, even though I've got the color as accurate as reasonably possible...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/160 sec, f/22, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Paying Respects
one person among a field of graves

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 135mm — ¹/320 sec, f/22, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 110 — map & image data — nearby photos
Crow
it's difficult to see the crow perched atop the highest monument, but he's there

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stairs to Kiyomizu
清水寺

The graveyard leads up the hill toward the Kiyomizu Temple, so I always thought that it was the graveyard associated with that temple, but it seems that they're unrelated. It's actually the graveyard for the Higashi Honganji Temple that we'd been to earlier, two kilometers away.

The graveyard was as deserted as, well, a graveyard, but things changed considerably once we got near the World Heritage Kiyomizu Temple, but I'll save that for another post.

Continued here...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pleasant Atmosphere
near the Kamo River (鴨川), between Gojo and Shijichi Streets
Kyoto Japan

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Cherry blossoms are starting to bloom in earnest, but as I wrote the other day, they're particularly far along near the Kamo River between Gojo and Shichijo streets.

I've posted lots of buds and blossoms lately (here, here, here, here, here, and here) so I've decided I've had enough of that, so I'm going to concentrate on the wider, human picture.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Blossom Closeup
my having given it up for now, someone's got to do it.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another View
of the lead photo

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 90mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stroll with a Friend

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mixture of Pink and White

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Exploring the River
the dad and son from the previous post

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
View from Above
Kamo River (鴨川) from Shomen St., looking North

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking South
it's nice to see folks holding hands
( but I'm glad I don't suffer pollen allergies )

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Moving Along

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos

No little melodrama to be seen this time... just a pleasant scene.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 116mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fairly Full Blossoms Here

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Man and his Ride
a ready-made way to learn how to ride a bike, as per this comment

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 135mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yellow Building

The first and second floors of this yellow building, across the river from the corner of Kawabata and Shichijo streets, have good restaurants. The second floor is Thai restaurant “Kin Kaho”, while the first floor is the “Obyan Cafe”. Both are recommended.

Continued here...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quality Time

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I've been super crazy busy lately, working on a new plugin and visiting with an old friend in town, which explains no posts in the last week despite having such a backlog of things to write about. But I did get out today a bit with my friend to enjoy some early cherry blossoms.

This photo is all hazy because it was shot through several branches worth of blossoms much nearer to the lens than the one the focus is on. It's not a photo with much technical quality, but I like the vibe.

Continued here...