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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bold (But Natural) Colors
very tiny flowers above a backdrop of moss
Gioji Temple (祇王寺), Kyoto Japan

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I had the most amazing day of photographic and gastronomic discovery today, so much so that a month's worth of blog posts won't do it justice. During the day I took off to the mountains of western Kyoto with a friend, and in the evening met other friends for an all-you-can eat (all-you-can-drink!) BBQ buffet. A truly wonderful day.

I barely had time to glance at some of the photos from the mountains before having to run off to the BBQ, but the colors above caught my eye. It has no post processing except white balance (which I set via a properly-calibrated WhiBal shot), and a slight sliver cropped off the height to get it to fit a widescreen desktop aspect ratio. Otherwise, it's all defaults in Lightroom.

It's from a stop at the Gioji Temple (祇王寺) early on before hitting the mountains. The Gioji Temple is one of my favorite “hidden” spots, off the beaten path but still accessible, and just chock full of photogenic wonders. I first posted about it in “An Introduction to Kyoto’s Gioji Temple” almost exactly five years ago. The “nearby photos” link under the photo will bring you to the many posts I've done from this area before, but today was perhaps the first time I visited with my Voigtländer 125mm, so I'm really looking forward to see the results.

But first I have two hours of all-you-can-drink buffet to sleep off...

Continued here...

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/11, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Space Station

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I mentioned the other day in “Happy Ordination Anniversary (54!) to Kyoto Institution Fr. Graham McDonnell” that I'd come across a weird flower, and was quickly informed (both here and on Google Plus; not a word from Facebook, where my blog-post notices never elicit a comment) that it was the flower from a passion-fruit vine.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flower's Namesake

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The shape of the flower apparently lends the “Passion” to its English name, summoning images of the Passion of Christ.

The Japanese name seems to come from the same construction, though along a different path: tokeisou (時計草) means “Watch Plant”

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/16, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Carnival Ride

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Satellite Dish

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closeup from previous well-focused shot

It looks to be a climbing vine...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/80 sec, f/16, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
My Telephone Cord
always did this, and I never had an easy time fixing it

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Subtle Detail

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/4, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bud

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Creepers

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
In Search Of

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pinwheel

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Location
unassuming location in the middle of the city

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Wild Ride
of parenthood

Last week I did what I suppose is my first purposeful portraiture photo shoot. I've done plenty of impromptu portraits (such as these or these), and I've found the use of the word “impromptu” frees me from the worry of having to be good: it's impromptu, so hey, if I come away with something nice that nice, but it's not expected.

This time was different, meeting with the express intent to capture some father/son photos. But the subject matter, a friend Tetsuo and his younger child, Issei (一星), made it difficult to get a bad picture. A general rule that seems to make sense to me is that when doing family stuff, so long as the kids are in a good mood, the camera can do no wrong. Issei was in a good mood.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 130mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Master of the Force
1 year 2 day old Issei

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 135mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Still Learning
this whole “walking” thing

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Attack

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quintessential Fatherhood Scene
(differs little from a quintessential motherhood scene, but hey, it's Father's Day)

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tetsuo

How I met him is sort of an interesting story. Last year on day three of Kyoto's Gion Festival, I mentioned the “exceedingly pleasant” experience I had when I stopped at a Spanish restaurant's stall selling ham and beer. It took six months, but I finally got to go and actually visit the restaurant last December, and had a nice chat with one of the cooks, who prepared my food right in front of me at the bar. It was Tetsuo.

After chatting a while and enjoying his personable nature, we were both surprised to discover that not only did our kids go to the same weekend English-study group, but that I had photographed his wife and younger kid at the group's Christmas party earlier that day. I showed him the photos on the back of my camera, which I still had with me. What a small world.

When looking at the picture of his boy (who must have been six months old at the time) and him, I could see the clear resemblance, and had been wanting to photograph them together ever since. I finally got my chance last week.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flowers

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Happy

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Juggling
Parenthood is a balancing act

His daughter was in school at the time, but now that I've got this one-kid experience under my belt, I think I'm ready to try a two-kid (two-parent) shoot, so maybe next week....

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iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — ¹/15 sec, f/2.4, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Me with Fr. Graham McDonnell
on the 54th anniversary of his ordination
( as we stare at an iPhone in the unconfident hands of a waitress )

I really don't care to use the iPhone camera, much less share the photos it produces, but when it's all you've got, it's all you've got. I occasionally have lunch with Roman Catholic priest Fr. Graham McDonnell (“Father Mac”), and as we were about to start our salads, he remembered that it was the anniversary of his ordination. 54 years.

During WWII he was in the US Navy as a radar repair engineer, then he spent nine years in seminary, and a year later, in 1960, came to Kyoto and has been here since.

He's been on my blog a couple of times, here and here.

At a spry 85 years old he's still going strong, so I'll have to remember to bring my good camera next year.

We were eating at a restaurant a minute's walk from his office, Grill Normandie (ノルマンディ), across from the Royal Hotel near Sanjo Ooike. He's been coming for much of the 52 years he's been here. It was my first time.

So, since we went ahead and took a picture to commemorate the event, I thought I'd try to photograph some of the food as well, but I really think it's a waste with a camera as bad as the iPhone, unless you apply all kinds of filters and such. But maybe I just don't know how to use it.

iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — ¹/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oddly Refreshing
Blend of apple, orange, and komatsuna (a spinach-like veggie)

iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — ¹/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Hamburger Steak”

iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — ¹/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Breaded Suzuki
“Japanese sea bass” with tomato sauce

iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.4, ISO 64 — map & image data — nearby photos
Unassuming
Entrance to Grill Normandie

iPhone 4S at an effective 35mm — ¹/20 sec, f/2.4, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
French Vibe
in the entrance hall

I had planned to go back for lunch today with a real camera so I could do this post justice, but I didn't quite make it. I did, however, get far enough to snap some shots of an amazing flower I noticed on the street during that one-minute walk from his office...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/16, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Freaky Flower

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/16, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos

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Continued here...

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fresh Out of the Oven
so to speak

Two months ago I posted about a visit to Suntory's Yamazaki whisky distillery a ways south of Kyoto. After that tour was done, we (Paul Barr and I) hopped into a taxi for the 10 minute ride to hit the tour at Suntory's beer brewery, in Nagaokakyo city, an area where I happened to have lived in the mid 90s.

Unlike the old distillery, which is full of sweet aroma and deep, rich photogenic character at every turn, the beer brewery is a bastion of modern sterile industrial design, featuring all the warmth and character of the inside of a hospital's stainless-steel sink.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/4, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Brewing-Vat Icebergs
they extend far below floor level

Since there was nothing really appealing to my normal photographic interests, I thought I'd see what I could do with the “industrial look”. The big pipes running into these things, seen from a distance in the center of the shot above, offered a lot of detail...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rigid

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flow

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A closer-up version of the photo above is the first pic in “A Dual Photo Ying-and-Yang-ish “What am I?” Quiz” from the other day.

Update: this photo makes an excellent login-screen photo. I'm using it for the login screen on my NAS, and I'm tickled with the apparent appropriateness of it each time I encounter it.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tapered

I was much more in my element in the drinking room after the tour, where you get two big glasses of beer (or juice or tea).

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3600 — map & image data — nearby photos
My Glass #1

I made ample use of my camera, not because I wanted to possess an advertisement-worthy picture of a beer glass, but because I wanted to see whether I could produce an advertisement-worthy picture of a beer glass. Just dabbling to see what I can do is the same reason I took pictures of the transit of Venus, the recent annular eclipse, or the staged whisky shots seen in the distillery-visit post. (I look at “Trying My Hand at Product Photography” from five years ago, where I did something similar, and cringe.)

Anyway, these shots are more for my own fun, along the lines of “half the fun is getting there”. Most have had a fair amount of post processing in Lightroom.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oops
the beer-glass equivalent of a tree sticking out from someone's head

I felt that the background rows of cans had potential for something interesting, but I just couldn't find it.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Zzzzzzzz......

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tasty

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Master of the Tap

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pull

Nikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44mm — ¹/200 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Me in Action
(if your definition of the word “action” is generous)
photo by Paul Barr

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Human Element

I probably appreciated the human element more than the beer, and the more beer I appreciated, the more I appreciated everything. 🙂

After everyone had their drinks in hand, there was a presentation on the proper pouring technique for this particular brew (which, if I would have paid attention fully, I would be able to recount, but I merely recall that the procedure was somehow different for this brew than for most beers.)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Presentation of the Glass

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Initial Pour
to produce the head?

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
This Point Seems Important
if only I had been paying attention

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pride in Her Work
a perfect glass

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos

The second photo on the ying-and-yang quiz is an extreme close-up of the lip of a full glass, with not much in focus except part of the rim and some of the bubbles on the head of beer.

Continued here...