Nikon D4 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 290mm — 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Athlete
exhausted 10-year-old Anthony after his first water-polo match last month
Anthony is a strong swimmer.
According to my blog, he could play in the water by himself four years ago (and also here).
Still, as seen in “Little Fish”, as recent as two years ago that level of skill was only enough to get him to “level 8” at the swimming school where he's taken lessons for years; new students who have never been in the water start at “13”, going up to expert swimmers at “1”.
He's really progressed quickly of late; now he's a the “special” level beyond “1”. This rapid advance is likely because for the last year, he's been in a water-polo club at a different school.
It was an exciting joy to see him at his first real water-polo match last month; we were so proud of him. In real water polo, you're not allowed to stand on the bottom of the pool, so you're treading water the whole time, but the pool at his school is too shallow for that kind of real practice, so I'm sure the first real match was a shock in many ways, including needing to tread water for so long while exerting yourself athletically. (I didn't know much about water polo prior to all this, but it's an exceedingly aggressive contact sport, closer to my image of rugby than soccer.)
The mild challenge on my part was getting good photos through the steamy glass that separated the viewing area from the pool, but the shot above, of an exhausted Anthony walking past after the match, just hits me right in the heart. My little boy is growing up. This photo seems to be the next step from “Tipping Point” three years ago.
And of course, it calls to mind “Hunk” from when he was three.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Small Window
at the Housen-in Temple (宝泉院), Kyoto Japan
Picking up from “First Visit to Kyoto’s Housen-in Temple” the other day, where I ended with having tea and sweets in the garden-viewing room, here are some more shots of that room and the area.
The back of the room had some nice paintings in the alcoves...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rear of the Garden-Viewing Room
Housen-in Temple (宝泉院)
In the shot above, Paul is facing the window seen in the opening shot, shooting the detail of the translucent opening above it. It's covered with thick Japanese paper, so he probably got a shot like this:
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Paper Window
The full window looked like it should be very photogenic, but despite spending considerable effort on it, I didn't come away with much. Here are two more attempts:
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Popular Target
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Warmer Tone
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/4.5, ISO 7200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Historical Stain
Some of the ceiling boards in the temple are recycled floor boards of the Fushimi Castle, move here when it was dismantled in the 1600s. The stains are the blood of Motodada Torii and his men, who committed seppuku as part of a battle that changed the course of Japanese history.
According to the guy giving the explanation above, the winners of the battle would have just left the bodies there to rot, as a form of disrespect to their beaten foes, so the stains would have had plenty of time to set into the wood grain. (The winners this time would all be dead a month later, their heads piled into numerous huge kubizuka mounds 20,000 at a time, at the decisive battle of Sekigahara that unified Japan, because the 10 days that they squandered in defeating Torii here allowed Torii's feudal lord the time to raise a sufficient army to beat them a month later. That feudal lord's family went on to rule Japan for more than 250 years until Westernization set in the 1860s. Had Torii not made the stand here, the violent warring states period would have likely not ended any time soon.)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/80 sec, f/4.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Stains
down the other leg of the L-shaped veranda
I recall that in person you could see specific things like hand prints, but I don't see them in this photo.
Back to something more peaceful, another view of the small front garden seen in the previous post...
After leaving the temple building, we explored the rock garden.
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 10000 — image data
Laughing at Silly Daddy
I appreciate that at 10 years old Anthony can still be cute, so I like yesterday's post about LEGO in that sense, but the photographer in me wishes the photos were better, so here are some better shots.
In December when Paul Barr and I were doing the portraiture practice (Paul's shots of me and my shots of Paul), Anthony happened to come by on his way home from school...
A couple of days later he had a concert at school (a small orchestra made up of 4th-6th graders), where he played guitar and various percussion. Here are a couple of shots of him on a trap set doing a jazz/swing piece...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 4000 — image data
Laughing with a Friend
looking, IMHO, quite cool
After having bought some earmuffs and a neckwarmer...
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Silly
( but warm )
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/2, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Jetlagged
in scrapped together clothes
After our long flight to Ohio to visit my folks, where United Airlines lost our luggage for a couple of days, we had to make do with clothes until we could go out and buy some more, so the above is what Anthony got.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/2, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ready to Feed the Birds
outside where it's cold
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Clearly Having Fun
...prior to a big snow.
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/40 sec, f/2.4, ISO 50 — map & image data — nearby photos
In LEGO Heaven
at a LEGO Store near Cleveland, Ohio
During our recent trip to The States to visit my folks, 10-year-old Anthony and I stopped by a LEGO store that had a “Pick-a-Brick” wall.
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 80 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hand Full of Grass
( which is hard to see in these crappy phone pictures )
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 50 — map & image data — nearby photos
So Many Choices
With “Pick a Brick”, you pay by the bucket, so the goal is to engineer as much stuff to fit as possible...
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Engineering Maximum Fit
For example, some large white wall pieces had hollow space when stacked, so we worked on filling that space as much as possible...
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Assembly Line
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 125 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tight Fit
awaiting matching “cover” wall piece
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 80 — map & image data — nearby photos
Topped Off in Red
It was a fun challenge, perhaps more fun for me than for Anthony.
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/25 sec, f/2.4, ISO 50 — map & image data — nearby photos
Creating His Own Minifigs
iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — 1/25 sec, f/2.4, ISO 50 — map & image data — nearby photos
Purchases Complete!
When we got home to Japan, he opened up his two buckets and we counted how much of each piece he ended up with, and then tallied what it would have cost at the LEGO online store, where he's placed orders before.
Just the aforementioned handful of grass (he ended up with 207 pieces) would have cost $31, which is about what the two buckets cost, so everything else was gravy. In the end, all the stuff in his $30+tax pair of buckets would have cost $201, plus tax plus shipping plus handling. (This says more about how ridiculously expensive LEGO is than how good a deal the Pick-a-Brick is, but what can you do....)
As big a haul as it was, it didn't do much to dampen his hunger for everything LEGO. He's already placed (and received) an order from the Swedish Warehouse19 on a bunch of special parts, along the lines of what he did last year (as chronicled in “Anthony’s LEGO Battle at an Abandoned Castle”).
I recently got a bunch of Plexiglas and foam-core sheets to help with photo lighting (so that I don't have to use a kitchen cutting board as a reflector as I did here), and am planning on using the detailed LEGO pieces from Anthony's Warehouse19 order as practice, if I could only find the time....
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 140 — map & image data — nearby photos
Access Denied
to the main garden at the Housen-in Temple (宝泉院), Kyoto Japan
Dipping back into my largely-untapped archive from November's many fall-foliage outings, here are some photos from a trip to the Kyoto mountain-suburb of Ohara, where we (Damien Douxchamps, Paul Barr, and I) visited some of the smaller temples surrounding the justly-famous Sanzen-in temple (三千院), which has been on my blog many times since my first visit four years ago, including the bazillion offering statues and one of my all-time favorite photos, “Serenity”.
But on this trip a few months ago, we avoided the oppressive crowds at Sanzen-in, instead letting Damien introduce us to the hidden-gem lesser temples dotting its perimeter.
A few of the photos from this highly-photogenic day have already appeared on “A Post For Damien Douxchamps’ Parents in Belgium” and “A Long But Photogenic November in Kyoto”, but much delight awaits.
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos
Weighing Options
( not on where to go, but on what to shoot in the target-rich environment )
Where to go, of course, was into the temple where you could view the garden from its intended perspective.
Near the entrance, a small stream in the narrow space between the building and a rock wall made for a nice scene, and I tried to get the kusaridoi gutter chain in silhouette, but I'm not quite sure it works...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stream and Rain Chain
I also noticed these branches oddly tied together (along with what looks to be a half-dead vine)...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Odd
I wonder what's going on here
Anyway, inside the temple it was crowded, but nothing like what it would be at Sanzen-in, and with some patience I was able to get a clean shot of a tea(?) room...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/10, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tea Room
with in-floor hibachi
The tatami (rice mats) in the foreground at the bottom of the frame are the hallway; to get this shot I was standing almost outside in the external hallway (and would have been if it had not started raining).
I didn't actually get a nice shot of the “dining” area with pot hanging from the ceiling, but to give a sense of the Japanese aesthetics, here's a crop from a wide, out-of-focus shot...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 highly cropped — 1/80 sec, f/1.4, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sort Of
gives you a sense of the room
I probably didn't have time to get a good shot, since people were coming and going all the time...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Light Crowd
Further into the building, I looked back on a minor front garden...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Small Front Garden
Housen-in Temple (宝泉院)
I love the “segmented grass” that I (incorrectly) call “bamboo grass”...
Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Not Bamboo Grass
Bamboo is grass, of course, so “bamboo grass” is like saying, er... “elm tree”.
This next shot of the main garden-viewing room is not quite like the amazing one the other day...
Entrance to the temple includes green tea and a sweet, and as I'd been doing lately, I tried to get a simple shot...
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tea and Sweet
I really wanted to create layers (the tatami, the wood threshold, the wet rocks, and the green of the garden), but just couldn't get the right angle...
... so I tried a vertical shot...
... but that's too busy, so I suppose this is the best I can do:
Then I thought to pull back from the edge to the red carpet, which is where I was supposed to be anyway. There are many pictures out there by other folks of me contorting to get the shot; it was probably like the peach-pie scene in “Look at this Instagram” parody.
Anyway, the red is pretty but I wasn't able to do much with it...
At one point the sun came out briefly, making for some stark shadows that I liked...
