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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/4, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Last Year
at the Raigoin Temple (来迎院), Kyoto Japan

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Yesterday was a really blustery day, with cold, biting wind.... really the first true taste of autumn here in Kyoto. Made me want to peek at some of the many photos I haven't even look at yet from last year's fall-foliage season. Here are a few random photos from four separate outings with Paul Barr during the last week of November (last year).

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Welcome
Bamboo Temple Jizouin (竹の寺　地蔵院), Kyoto Japan

From the same outing: “Some Rustic Temple/Shrine Visits in Western Kyoto” and a bunch of shots on “A Few Colorful Kyoto Desktop Backgrounds from November”.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/8, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big
Bamboo Temple Jizouin (竹の寺　地蔵院)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bell
Senkouji Temple (千光寺), Kyoto Japan

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op #2974
Yoshiminedera Temple (善峯寺), Kyoto Japan

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Yoshiminedera (善峯寺) is an autumn favorite. Shots from this particular outing appeared on “Entering Kyoto’s Yoshiminedera Temple” “More Fall Foliage From the Yoshiminedera Temple”, the November-backgrounds post cited above, and “A Few Fall-Foliage Desktops To Get In The Autumnal Mood”, but any of the “nearby photos” links under each pic shows plenty of other outings.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yoshiminedera Temple (善峯寺)

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Nikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Me
near the top of the Yoshiminedera Temple (善峯寺)
photo by Paul Barr

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op #7293
Yoshiminedera Temple (善峯寺)

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stroll
Yoshiminedera Temple (善峯寺)

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Nikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 28mm — ¹/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Me Being Frustrated (Part 1 of 2)
Imakumano Kannonji Temple (今熊野観音寺), Kyoto Japan
photo by Paul Barr

The red tree in the photo above has, without question, the most brilliant vibrant retina-searing amazing jaw-dropping awe-inspiring color I've ever seen in a tree. Sadly, the photo above doesn't even hint at the depths of its true glory, so trying to process it for reasonable display is the tree's second pass at frustrating me. Even after lowering the brightness and saturation, the leaves are still a washed-out pale reflection of reality.

The tree was so amazing that it was the subject of two separate posts, “Another Day of Amazing Fall Colors in Kyoto” and the followup “That Particularly Amazing Tree at the Imakumano Kannonji Temple”.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tree Bling
Imakumano Kannonji Temple (今熊野観音寺)

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stuck
(I wish I had framed the leaf more toward one side or the other)
Raigoin Temple (来迎院), Kyoto Japan

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wall Top
Zenryuuji Temple and Inari Daimyou Shrine (善龍寺、稲荷大明神社), Kyoto Japan

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I used a photo from this trip on “Asking Your Opinion on The Size of Photos on My Blog”.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rail
Shinnyodo Temple (真正極楽寺真如堂), Kyoto Japan

This last one is from the outing that produced “Spectacular Colors at Kyoto’s Shinnyodo Temple”.

Heading out for some fall foilage photography yourself? Don’t forget the polarizer filter!

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I've been missing the gluttonous excess of the now-closed all-you-can-eat/drink BBQ buffet that I posted about all summer, but perhaps found a kind of replacement: The all-you-can-eat/drink buffet at the Kyoto Royal Hotel, near Kyoto's Sanjo/Kawaramachi intersection.

I heard about it a couple of months ago, but didn't get a chance to try it until recently, to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. I thought the food was very good, a real bargain at 2,500 yen. Add 500 yen, and you also get the alcohol bar... beer and wine (red/white/plum). Tasty.

It's particularly nice for me because I can walk there in about 20 minutes, so can start to work off the extra calories right away.

(That's just a phrase... I don't actually care about calories, I care about carbs, and generally avoid them.... except beer and wine :-))

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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mounted Archer Whispering to His Horse

I posted a bit the other day (here and here) about catching the tail end of the Jidai Matsuri (時代祭, “Festival of the Ages”). Here are some more from early on in what I shot. (Having just returned from a long-weekend trip, I'm pretty much behind on everything.)

When I first got out there, the parade had stalled for some reason, so I got a long opportunity to photograph the mounted archer seen above and in the second link, and having not failed to immediately notice my not-so-subtle 300mm f/2, he pranced a bit for the camera, which I really appreciate.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Over-the-Top Processing

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For something different, I went a bit overboard on the post processing, recalling the similar treatment of a similarly-mounted archer (but an actual archer instead of an actor) now hanging in a print on my wall, as seen in “Dabbling in Some Fine-Art Printing for My Office”. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I like this kind of presentation.... occasionally.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38mm — ¹/6400 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Context
a benefit of shooting with two camera bodies

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Razor Thin
one eye is in perfect focus

This photo illustrates just how thin the depth of field is at f/2 at 300mm.... his right eye is in perfect focus, but because his head is tilted slightly, the left eye is out of focus. Of course, it was pure luck that I got this... he and his horse were continually in motion.... and if they would have paused, I would have liked to focus on the other eye (generally, it feels more natural when the closer eye is the one in focus).

Now a few shots of some folks that followed once the parade started moving. I was limited mostly by there being but a few angles where I could get a reasonable background, but the limited depth of field certainly helped when the subject was close.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 160 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos

In the photo above I was able to avoid washing out the rich color of his robe, but was not able to keep the detail in the fabric without compromising the whole thing, but just to show what's there, here's a crop of the same shot with the exposure brought way down....

Detail Lost in the Highlights
crop and reprocess from the photo above

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rush Hour

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/800 sec, f/2, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stately

Continued here... (sort of)

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Since the beginning of summer I've changed my food lifestyle to generally avoid carbs... I don't eat rice, potatoes, breads, fruits, desserts, etc., unless it would be socially inconvenient. (If I'm with friends and everyone's in the mood for pizza, I'll go and enjoy pizza.) It's worked out really well for me (I took these self portraits not long after starting) and by finding low-carb things I like, have not really felt cravings, or that I'm missing out or sacrificing. It's a lifestyle, not a temporary diet.

But today I fell off the wagon because I made the mistake of trying a free sample of an Alaüs Mathez Truffe fantaisie (Fancy dusted truffle) at Costco (which yes, are here in Japan).

It was amazingly pure and creamy, but didn't leave an overly-sweet after taste... a true tight-wire balancing act between pleasure and eatability that must be as good for the company's bottom line as it is bad for my waistline. Like most everyone who tried one, I had to buy a box.

The box held two 500g tins (exactly like this, except because it's Costco, it was ⅓ the price), so I came home with 1kg (2.2lbs) of delicious French chocolate that I didn't have the willpower to not eat.

I've shared some with the family and Fumie's folks, but still have an unopened tin here in my room just daring me to eat it in one sitting.

Weak. I am weak....

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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/8000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waking Up
at Benesse House, Naoshima Island, Japan (直島のベネッセハウス)

Continuing from the other day's “First Look at the Ultra Modern (as in “Modern Art”) Benesse House Museum Art”, a few shots from yesterday...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hazy

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Susuki Grass?

Not sure whether this is the susuki that I like (seen often on my blog, as of late here, here, here, here, and here), but it's certainly pretty.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wall

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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Learning About Shadow
on a cement sidewalk
Shadow creates depth; lack of shadow, flat blandness

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/6 sec, f/1.4, ISO 10000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Two Balls Behind Glass
invisible during the day
these things are as tall as I am

To be continued...