Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/40 sec, f/7.1, ISO 6400 — image data — nearby photos
Me and My Family
my folks me, my son, my wife my wife's folks
I'd like to share a bit more from my New Year's trip to visit my folks in Ohio. It was notable in particular because it was the first time for my parents to actually meet my wife's parents.
Anthony and I left Kyoto first, having been seen off at the Osaka airport by Fumie's folks...
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 400 — image data — nearby photos
Pre-Flight Snack
Starbucks in the Osaka Itami Airport (大阪伊丹空港)
Anthony had a lot of homework over the break (boo, hiss), so we had to squeeze study in everywhere we could. Here, at the gate while waiting for the plane, he's memorizing Japan's 47 “states” and their capitals...
After a somewhat harrowing flight via Tokyo and Chicago (see “Thank You Anonymous Hero at Chicago O’Hare’s Gate E2a”) and a couple of days without luggage, we had a quiet Christmas in Ohio...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 — image data — nearby photos
Opening Presents
We don't get much snow in Kyoto (but when we do, it can be beautiful) so Anthony enjoyed the snow and ice...
... and feeding birds on the veranda that have trained my Mom to provide snacks....
Panasonic DMC-TS3 at an effective 29mm — 1/200 sec, f/3.3, ISO 400 — image data — nearby photos
Chickadee
But there was study... always study...
Fumie and her folks came in via Toronto (via a horribly-late flight). Her folks had never been to Ohio, and mine never to Kyoto, so after 14 years of marriage, our folks could finally meet.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/60 sec, f/3.2, ISO 1600 — image data — nearby photos
Warm All Around
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/60 sec, f/4.5, ISO 2800 — image data — nearby photos
Cheers!
with Ohio and Canadian ice wine
I normally would take a group shot like this via the intervalometer, to have a shot fired every two or three seconds so that we'd hopefully get a good one, but this time I tried a CamRanger, which allowed me to fire the shutter from my iPhone. The only problem is that the button on the screen has no tactile feedback, so it was a bit challenging to hit it blindly.
Fumie's folks then took the opportunity to try things some new things: feeding the birds, and sledding...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102mm — 1/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 180 — image data — nearby photos
Another Chickadee
Panasonic DMC-TS3 at an effective 29mm — 1/1000 sec, f/3.3, ISO 100 — image data — nearby photos
Sledding
Anthony and his maternal grandparents
Panasonic DMC-TS3 at an effective 29mm — 1/800 sec, f/3.3, ISO 100 — image data — nearby photos
Three-Generation Race
Anthony liked the crashing more than the actual sledding
Canon PowerShot SD870 IS + 4.6-17.3mm @ 4mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 125 — image data — nearby photos
Choo-Choooooo
three generations on one toboggan
photo by my mom
It was a wonderful day.
Fumie and her folks headed back to Japan the next day, while Anthony and I stayed on for a few days.
In the next few shots, Anthony is helping Grandpa with a lake-related chore...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/6400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — image data — nearby photos
Careful Instruction
on breaking a hole in the ice
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/2500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — image data — nearby photos
Throwing Snow
just because it's there
There was much more snow play, and that most-excellent visit to a LEGO store before we returned to Kyoto, via Chicago and Tokyo. On the short final segment, a Japanese domestic flight from Tokyo on ANA, we for some reason got bumped up to business class, which thrilled Anthony to no end:
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/15 sec, f/2.4, ISO 400 — image data — nearby photos
Enjoying The Fun Seats
But it was the end of a long trip...
Out Cold
via the iPhone front-facing camera
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1.3 sec, f/4, ISO 100 — image data
Priceless
just look at all that candy
Today's post combines a couple of things I've written about recently, Läkerol candy and Japanese pottery, as seen in “Cornucopia of Tasty Läkerol Licorice” and “Failing a New Portraiture Challenge: Reflective Pottery”.
The latter post detailed the tough time Zak Braverman and I had photographing some reflective tenmoku pottery by Koji Kamada (鎌田幸二). In the end we were able to rescue enough shots in Photoshop that he could use them to create the invitation cards for a show, and in thanks he gave us each a bowl that he had made but couldn't sell due to some (apparently minor, because I don't see it) flaw.
I've recently been redoing my home office, installing a wall of cabinets that include some display areas, so I dedicated one such area to the bowl. And to show it proper respect, I filled it with something I really like, the Läkerol candies I wrote about before. (I have a large variety of flavors, and found that I enjoy them best when I get two random flavors at a time... the 121 possible flavor combinations keeps things interesting.)
I wanted to show how it looks in my room while I normally use it, which is with the lights pretty low, but the dynamic range (the darkness of the shadows vs. the brightness of the lights) is just too much for the Nikon D4. So I turned on the big bright fluorescent room light just to snap a shot:
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/10 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 — image data
My Home Office
as it stands at the moment
This is a different room from when I showed my office in 2012; it seems that we re-rearrange rooms every few years. I'm still in the process of getting settled in to this new layout.
I do most of my photo/plugin/blog work on my laptop while sitting in the La-Z-Boy partially seen in the lower left; for the most part, the two monitors on my desktop machine just cycle through desktop-background photos that I've posted on my blog, one vertical background and one landscape-mode background.
For what it's worth, the two shots that happen to be up at the moment are from “Photographer’s Low-Hanging Fruit: a Pretty Flower” (April 2012) and “Some Desktop Backgrounds from Kyoto’s Koumyou-in Temple” (June 2012).
Anyway, I like it fairly dark while I work, with only a small incandescent light reflecting above the desk, and a small LED puck downlight directly above the pottery....
I'm really happy with how the presentation highlights the bowl. It's remarkably tasteful, I think, especially for a geek like me to have come up with.
(The pun with “tasteful” and the tasty candy was not intended, but now that I notice it, I'll intend it. :-))
The photo of the presentation, though leaves much to be desired. I probably just don't know how to take a photo, because it took a lot of work in Lightroom to get even this much balance between the shadows and the brights. I didn't want to bother with a full-on HDR set, but I did try the camera's HDR mode to decidedly unsatisfactory results, but the result above is after a lot of Lightroom work on the in-camera HDR effort..
The colors were really hard to balance among the three light sources (incandescent, LED, and the pair of monitors), so maybe it looks better in B&W?
My wife doesn't care for the dark dungeon look... this is probably how it looks to her:
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/15 sec, f/8, ISO 400 — image data
Gloomy or Cozy
is in the eye of the beholder
Anyway, back to the bowl of candies, the LED spotlight directly above the bowl creates very strong shadows, and the parts of the bowl in shadow appear essentially black, but while processing these photos I decided that I wanted to show a bit more of the bowl, so tried to bring out some detail from the shadows. Not sure it was worth it, but here it is:
While I was actually taking the shots, the local Co-Op stopped by to deliver this week's groceries, which includes some dry ice to help keep the frozen items frozen in transit, so I thought I'd try to incorporate the “smoke” into the shots...
I was hoping for something more dramatic, but there you are.
While on the subject of Koji Kamada and his pottery, I'll include a few photos from his show in January at the Hankyu Umeda Department Store (阪急百 貨店、梅田) in Osaka, 45 minutes south of Kyoto. They have a little museum area walled off in the middle of the sales floor, and on display was the big piece that lead my blog post, along with a photo of Kamada-san at work taken by Zak...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Behind Glass
at the Hankyu Umeda Department Store (阪急百貨店、梅田)
It's a really amazing environmental portrait that I hope Zak will post on his blog. (In this case, “environmental” means not in a studio; it was taken in Kamada-san's pottery workshop, exactly where we'd done the pottery photos earlier.)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Enjoying Tea
Kamada-san, Zak, and Aeron
Kamada-san had many different kinds of pottery on display. Here's a bowl similar to the one he kindly gave me, though presumably without the imperceptible flaw...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flawless
tenmoku pottery by Koji Kamada (鎌田幸二、天目)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 13 sec, f/22, ISO 400 — image data
Priceless
a personal gift, tasty candies, and a nice presentation combine very well
That last shot is identical to the second photo of this article, except at f/22, this one shows most of the candy in focus.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 9000 — map & image data — nearby photos
at the Housen-in Temple (宝泉院), Kyoto Japan
Going back to round out my posts about my first visit to the Hosen-in Temple (宝泉院) in Kyoto's mountain suburb of Ohara last fall, today's post picks up after parts two and three.
The path from the main road is flanked by stalls selling all manner of snacks. These senbei were pretty and, according to Damien and Paul who accompanied me on this trip, tasty; I generally shy away from carbs, so I photographed rather than ate...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Varieties
near the Sanzen-in Temple (三千院)
We got off that main path and took a back route through village streets that Damien knew, freeing ourselves from the crowded path of touristy concessions. It was just a normal unphotogenic village, but there's always beauty and interest if you take the time to look.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Zeroing In
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Moss on a Wall
Near the Sanzen-in Temple (三千院)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Country Lane
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 180 — map & image data — nearby photos
Boring Peppers
I had high hopes for these peppers when Paul pointed them out, but the result is just boring. I would have liked to get closer, but they were set back from the road and I didn't want to step onto someone's property. Here's the scene...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Berries and Bamboo
red berries are a sure sign of Winter's approach in Kyoto
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Susuki Grass
another sign of a Kyoto winter
Now a few miscellaneous shots from the temple itself that didn't make it on the previous three posts...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stark Shadows
at the Housen-in Temple (宝泉院)
The weather was moody, alternating between drizzle and overcast, to brilliant direct sun. A similar shot, sans my color checker, is here.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Due Diligence in the Garden
Checking the garden sun for this shot
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Contemplating
in the garden of the Housen-in Temple (宝泉院)
Damien is standing in front of the tsukubai water basin seen in close up in the first photo above (and in many shots on the previous post in this series), but he's actually contemplating what to do about the single leaf in the gravel by his right foot (which I must admit was photogenic; my shot of it is here).
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/16, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sans Damien
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
One More Water-Basin Shot
Housen-in Temple (宝泉院)
Outside the rock garden back near the entrance, a wider shot of the scene seen in the initial post shows the Mt. Fuji shape that some trees have been pruned to....
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mt. Fuji Tree
at the Housen-in Temple (宝泉院)
The Housen-in temple is immediately adjacent to the Shorin-in Temple (勝林院), which we did not visit on this trip, but could see some nice views of the front grounds. This view, from near the entrance to Housen-in, appeared on “A Long But Photogenic November in Kyoto”...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Contemplation
at the Shorin-in Temple (勝林院), Kyoto Japan
The path leading up to the steps is surrounded by moss...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shorin-in Temple (勝林院)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shorin-in Temple (勝林院)
On the way to our next destination, we passed in front of the entrance, so here's the path from that point of view:
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shorin-in Temple (勝林院)
So, that concludes the posts about the Housen-in Temple, our first temple of the day. It wasn't our last.... we were just getting started.
Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — image data
Morning Sun
on a cold Kyoto morning
Birds lined up on the veranda the other day looked cute. Snapped some shots.
Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1800 — image data
“I Know I Had a Butt Around Here Somewhere”
Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 800 — image data
Forgot to Shower
Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500mm — 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 900 — image data
( wish I would have focused on the near bird looking right at me )
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Holy Cow
at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮), Kyoto Japan
I'm not sure what's with the bull near the entrance of the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮), but people come up to rub its snout.... perhaps for good luck, I suppose.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
School Tour
Yesterday's post was about the temple's plum orchard, but there's plenty to see in the free open areas of the shrine. The tree near the bull is the closest to the entrance, so I usually start my visit there.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
From Near the Bull
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
White Plum
I actually can't always tell the difference among the blossoms (plum, peach, apricot, and cherry). There might be some peach here, I dunno. Lots of variety...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pink Plum
I prefer the pink ones when they're still buds like this
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Green/Cream Combo
Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rough Pink
Kitano Tenmangu Shrine (北野天満宮)
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Visitor and Resident
This shrine allows tripods, quiet the rarity. The Yoshiminedera Temple in the far south of Kyoto also allows tripods; I can't recall any other temples or shrines that allow them. Maybe it'd be okay in the common areas of the Nanzenji Temple, now that I think about it.
It was still quite early in the season, but photographers were plentiful...
Not all visitors were there to snap pictures...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Play Time
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lunch Time
this guy was feasting on something all over the tree