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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170mm — 1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
All In One Step
this machine goes as far as bag the rice
(a smaller version of the machine seen in this post)
A few more shots from last week's rice-harvest mountain scooter ride. I returned to the area yesterday to give some prints to the nice farmer lady, but the shots in this post are from the original trip last week.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 135mm — 1/800 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gardens, Rice Fields, and Village
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150mm — 1/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Garden of Huge Lotus Leaves
some of these were two feet across
The seed heads were all pointing toward the sun, directly away from the camera, except one small one. It's just as well, as they give me the creeps...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 190mm — 1/640 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slightly Creepy Pod
Back to the more traditional gardens and rice, the rows of dried rice were always picturesque...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 180mm — 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Field of Plenty
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Safeguarding
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, cropped — 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Scarecrow
cropped from a larger photo
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/4000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lunch Break
The small combine, a Yanmar Ee213, runs about US$22,000 new.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/1000 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Laid Neatly
I'm not sure why this rice isn't bundled to dry like many fields we've seen, but it could be that it was processed with the combine above, which takes the grains off the stalks, and so the stalks are just left until cleaned up later. I don't know.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 116mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
In the background was another farmer working the field next to his house...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120mm — 1/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 140mm — 1/1600 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Workin' It In Style
With a Yanmar GC215
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FYI, I've just pushed calendar template PSD files for 2012, on my Photoshop calendar-template-building script page. If you can run the script, you don't need the templates, but if you can't, they'll perhaps be useful in making your own 2012 calendars.
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 140mm — 1/800 sec, f/13, ISO 2500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gradations
five rice paddies in the mountains of north-eastern Osaka Prefecture, Japan
In yesterday's post I talked about the highlight of a recent scooter trip into the mountains of rural Nara Prefecture, meeting a friendly farmer lady. Prior to meeting her, the highlight was enjoying the scenes of rice harvest, so today's post is few shots from various places prior to meeting her. Most are from the very rural edge of Katano City, Osaka Prefecture, just prior to crossing over the pass to the equally rural edge of Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture. As always, the photos have map links under them.
In the photo above, I was going for the same vibe as in these photos from a couple of years ago, but the result is, unfortunately, just too bright and monochromatic to grab my attention. Oh well.
You can see the same area from a different angle in the next shot....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/800 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Atlas
The long bamboo poles he's carrying are used in the rice harvest, as we'll see in a bit. In the shot above, he's walking toward his house, which you can see better in the next photo...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 80mm — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Violent Wind Damage
An isolated section of rice was smooshed flat for no apparent reason, but I asked a farmer and he explained that it was the wind, like a small tornado...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“From a Small Tornado”
so I'm told
One sees this kind of damage from time to time. I'm not sure I buy the tornado theory due to the lack of circularness in the smooshed-rice pattern, but I do believe that a violent downdraft, say of wind raging down the mountain during a typhoon, could be forcefully enough to snap the stalks. This rice, I was told, will likely be salvagable because it wasn't pushed under water. I don't know when the damage occurred, but a couple of typhoons that swept through the area at times this month are likely culprits. At the moment, all the fields are drained of water in preparation for harvest.
There's a road-side vending machine next to the house, which seems to function like a small convenience store for folks in these parts. The farmer I chatted with had walked up from his field further down the mountain to get a drink. We had a nice chat.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Gentleman Farmer
Just to offer a bit of perspective on the location, here's a view of the house and rice paddies from a bit up the road, looking out toward Katano City in northern Osaka Prefecture....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125mm — 1/800 sec, f/11, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Perspective
The tall buildings in the foreground of the background are about 8km away, here. The tall building in the haze in the far background is about 20km away, here.
To the right of the farmer in the photo above, you can see some red flowers at the edge of the rice fields. They were growing in bunches in random spots here and there...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Red Spider Lily
They made for a nice spot of color against all the green. I had no idea what they were, but looked them up to find that they're red spider lilys, in Japanese, higanbana (彼岸花) literally “equinox flower”. Wikipedia tells me that because the bulbs are poisonous, they're often planted near rice fields to deter pests like mice.
Here's a closer view of a bunch that I came across later, near the side of the road.
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Once the rice is ready to harvest, as all this rice is, they'll cut it off just above the ground...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 82mm — 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ready
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stubble
The lowest paddy on the mountain had already been cut, but the rice not yet bundled and hung to dry...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
During Harvest
The bamboo poles sticking in the ground are the beginning of a framework for hanging the rice bundles to dry. You can see the farmer at the right side of the photo with a stack of bamboo, as who I suppose is his wife in the background working on making bundles...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Under Construction
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102mm — 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bundling
Moving over the mountain pass into Nara, near the lady I chatted with yesterday, I came across some areas with cut rice hanging to dry...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/250 sec, f/10, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Drying Out
The combination of hills, rice paddies in various stages, vegetable fields, etc., made for some nice scenes...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/1250 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quintessential Farming Vista
The next sequence shows an ever-closer look at the rice...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 125mm — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/500 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/5000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Rice
Up Close and Personal
Here's a full-resolution crop from that last shot, to show some detail in the rice husk. (It was a handheld shot while crouched down at the edge of a rice paddy, with the wind blowing, while half concentrating on listening to the farmer lady tell her husband about me somewhere off in the distance.... so please excuse the lack of sharpness.)
Husk
full-resolution crop from above
I'll post more from this trip later, but for reference I posted this kind of thing four years ago, in “The Rice Harvest” and “The Rice Harvest, Old-School”. And for the flip side, there's “Preparing a Paddy for Rice Seedlings”.
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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
As I mentioned yesterday, I went on a scooter ride into the mountains of Ikoma in northern Nara Prefecture. The highlight of the trip was chatting with the lady seen above, at some rice paddies and vegetable fields in the mountains near the border between Osaka and Nara prefectures.
We got to chatting about all kinds of things, including how nice it was out in the country, and what a perfect time it was to see the rice fields, as they're brimming with mature rice waiting to be harvested. She even laughed at my jokes, which is rare among people of any age and background... when talking about language (she doesn't speak a word of English), I offered my standard joke: “Why, English is easy.... heck, in America, even kids can speak it!” but instead of groaning and rolling her eyes like most people, she burst out laughing.
Eventually she turned to go back to her work, and I to my camera...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 82mm — 1/2500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
From time to time we chatted further, and I stole some shots of her as she shuffled up or down the street...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Quick with a Laugh
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
I didn't realize it at the time, but that's her husband in the vegetable garden in the background. As I turned my attention to some macro shots of rice still on the plant, I could hear her voice wafting up from below... “and he has a boy in third grade, he said”...
When I popped back up to the road, the husband waves me over with a few words of English and we chat a bit. The lady shows up with an apron full of green peppers for me. The husband then starts cutting stalks from a huge plant and shoving them at me, then another, and another.
I didn't know what the first two were, but I recognized the last one as shiso, a large very fragrant herb similar to cilantro. It smelled wonderful.
Then the wife came up again with a bundle of scallions, which smelled amazing I never knew how good fresh scallions could smell. (The powerful and exquisitely yummy fragrance was all but gone a few hours later, so even fresh scallions at a farmers' market are unlikely to be fresh enough to experience their true aroma.)
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bountiful Harvest
of my mountain scooter ride
I was worried about being able to get this all back to Kyoto on my scooter, so excused myself before their generosity surpassed my ability to transport.
Later, from a rise further down the mountain, I looked back toward their plots...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/1250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
View From Afar
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Walking Home
After having taken her portrait not long after we first started chatting, she said something about sending her a copy, mumbling it as if talking more to herself than to me, because, I suppose, she didn't think it would be okay to ask. But of course I'd bring her a copy! It's a small village and if she's not at her fields, I'm sure I'll be able to find her just by showing her photo around. She said, then, that she'd have to prepare a gift for my eventual visit, to which I replied that merely being able to come out to see the rice fields was my gift.
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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Perfect Bowl Shape
Roadside flower in the mountains of northern Nara Prefecture, Japan
I've got enough backlog of photos I want to share to fill a year's worth of posts, and my running post rate for the last few years is about one post a day, but lately I've just not been interested in writing, so my posts of late have been infrequent. We might, however, get a spike in posts for a while, because today I took a scooter ride into the mountains of northern Nara Prefecture (south of Kyoto, between Kyoto and Osaka), and had a great time, both photographically and personally.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 78mm — 1/3200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Little Blue Barn
Not common in Japan
As you can see, there were a bazillion flowers at the side of the road, but the one I photographed (and I photographed only the one) really stood out as having a perfectly curved bowl shape. It reminded me of the moss-covered oblong stone ball on top of a stone lantern seen here, which also had a shape that just captivated me. (I have a bazillion photos concentrating on that moss-covered stone, but I've yet found one worthy to post.)