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As someone who wants to share something new on my blog every day, the recent lack of posting bothers me, but as I've noted recently, I'm working on a fun project (that I'll write about soon, but be warned that its geeky nature will make it uninteresting to most people, sorry).
So, to fill in a spot on my blog calendar, here are some pretty flowers I snapped shots of at my in-law's place on New Year's day, not long after the shrine visit from my “When You Tempt Fate, Sometimes You Lose” post. My wife's brother's wife's mother gave them to her daughter's husband's mother (my mother in law) when their kids got married, and said they'd bloom in a couple of months, and indeed, two months later here we are.
They were bathed in sharp, direct sunlight at the time, so the background was dark to begin with; I did some diddling in Lightroom to drop out the rest of the background.
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Wrapping up the posts about our short end-of-the-year trip to Shoudoshima Island several hours south of Kyoto, the third day started for me at 4am with the moonrise picture I posed the other day, then the cold and windy morning's pretty but unspectacular sunrise...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 58 mm — 1/800 sec, f/4.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cold
and windy, on the last day of the year
After breakfast and packing most of our stuff in the car, I stepped out to take the photos from behind the hotel I posted the other day, as Fumie and Anthony went out to the room's balcony to wave...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 65 mm — 1/800 sec, f/6.3, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waving Goodbye
to the Hotel Aqua, Shoudoshima Island, Japan
The view of the dam we'd visited the previous evening was better in the sun, though still hazy...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 340 mm — 1/640 sec, f/11, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yoshida Dam
On the drive around the island, I noticed the car ferry coming in. We'd be taking the same ferry line back in a few hours...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/4000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Brisk”
still cold; still windy
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/3200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Being that it wasn't raining like yesterday, we thought we'd give yesterday's “Angel Road” another try...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 27 mm — 1/2500 sec, f/11, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Sun
higher tide
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1/1600 sec, f/11, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Leaning into the Wind
The wind was strong and fun, but it was nothing compared to the wind a few years ago on Amami.
We went back up to the overlook and got another family picture, much better than the one I posted yesterday from the same spot....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/2000 sec, f/11, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Try #2
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 26 mm — 1/1600 sec, f/10, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony Wave
that spec of blue at the bottom is him
We then headed to one of the many olive-related attractions, an olive orchard / tourist attraction to see empty olive trees and a fake windmill....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/2000 sec, f/5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Olive Garden
Then back across the island to the port...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/640 sec, f/9, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Our Ferry Heading In
We heard that Kyoto had gotten quite a bit of snow the previous day, and was forecast for more this evening, so I was a bit worried about the drive home. Not thinking I needed snow tires for the drive south, I didn't have them, and so thoughts of having to abandon the car caused worry.
The worries increased when my car navigation system informed us that the highway was closed beyond the Kyoto-South exit. We intended to exit there anyway, but it was worrisome to imagine enough snow in Kyoto (which gets very little snow to begin with) to justify the closure.
Oddly, there was virtually no snow until just a few miles from the exit, then suddenly there was some inch or so of accumulation and more snow falling, but nothing to fret over. Still, everyone had to exit, but it was remarkably smooth and I used my knowledge as a local to avoid most of the extra traffic as we made our way across town toward our place.
But then the snow and the traffic got much worse, very quickly. Everyone shoved off the highway who wanted to continue east had to funnel through only two open roads over the mountains to Otsu, both of which were hilly, curvy, and packed as a parking lot.... and our place is on a feeder to one of them. By the time we were half a mile from our place, my delight at the easy exit had turned into worry about slipping and sliding again, and for the last quarter mile I was downright scared that we'd get stuck (albeit with an easy walk home), smash something, or be smashed.
But in the end we made it fine, an impressive two hours even from Himeji, and I was glad that we'd opted for a relatively early ferry. Anthony and I went out and had a snowball fight, and the snow made for a fun New Year's Day, as reported in “When You Tempt Fate, Sometimes You Lose”.
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Wow, I can't believe how time has flown. I've had my nose to the grindstone with a new fun little project, and I come up for air to find that five days have passed since my last post. Doh!
Our first full day on Shoudoshima Island during a short end-of-the-year trip was decidedly cold and rainy. After breakfast at our great hotel, we made the windy, windy* way to the more-populated opposite corner of the island, and the “Angel Road” spot where three small islands are connected to the main island only when the tide is low....
| * | one “windy” refers to the curvy nature of the road, and the other to the strong air currents whipping up the rain. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which. |
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 27 mm — 1/800 sec, f/8, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cold and Rainy “Angel Road”
Shoudoshima Island, Japan
When the tide is fully in, the land bridge is completely cut off, and when the tide is out, the exposed area is quite wide. The saying goes that if you walk across the land bridge holding hands with someone you love, your love will grow stronger blah blah blah. Does it work when you're wearing gloves and carrying an umbrella?
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lots of Stuff in the Intertidal Zone
It's no Miyajima Itsukushima Shrine, but it was interesting enough. With nicer weather we might have gone further than the land bridge to explored the small islands beyond, but the weather wasn't nice. At least there were rocks...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — 1/250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Throwin' Rocks
as kids are apt to do
Because of the “spot for lovers” marketing spin, people leave written wishes/hopes tied to trees, just like at a temple or shrine...
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Wishes
Fumie had a laugh at the one in the center of the picture, obviously written by a couple who had just had a fight. The note on the left half is by the woman, hoping to “be happy together without fighting”, while the other half by the guy is merely to hope to return to Shoudoshima Island sometime, and oh, to always be happy together.
There's an outcropping overlooking the area, offering a photogenic view....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Family Moment
I have no idea what was going on with the hat seemingly half way off my head. It was bitingly cold, and I was still recovering from a horrible week of a cold and a lack of sleep, so I apparently just didn't care.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 42 mm — 1/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
more fake marketing hype, so
More Wishes
The outcropping with the overlook is supposed to be something for “happy marriages” or the like, so there are lots of wishes for people hoping for marriage in their future. The shell above contains wishes for four girls: reading clockwise from the upper left, Yukko hopes “to achieve marriage by next year”, Sayaka hopes “to be forever with someone she loves...” but goes on to stipulate “but to have a kid by 30!!”. Chiaki merely asks “to be married by 30!!”, but my favorite is Sae's simple wish: “HAPPY LIFE”.
Leaving there, we continued our vehicular circumnavigation of the island, stopping for a moment on a peninsula for a shot of the snow-frosted mountains in the center of the island...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/800 sec, f/5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Frosty
and cold and bleary
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 380 mm — 1/800 sec, f/13, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mountain Lodge
We then stopped the set used to film the 1954 movie Twenty-Four Eyes, now a small theme park. I've not seen the movie, but it's apparently part of the Japanese cultural fabric, about the devastation that war has on a society as seen through the eyes of twelve students as they grow into adulthood during the turbulent years leading up to WWII.
(Oddly, the title,「二十四の瞳」translated literally means “24 Pupils”, but since there were only 12 pupils (each with two pupils), it gets confusing. 🙂 )
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/250 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“School”
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Classroom”
They had things set up as if the film crew had just walked away, including a made-in-America Mitchell Camera NC10B newsreel camera. Though rusting now, I bet it was a thing of beauty, made up of nothing but steel and glass, on legs of wood.
Outside I noticed some very tiny flowers growing low to the ground, so broke out my macro lens...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Delicate
each head was about the size of a raisin,
so each flower must have been smaller than the head of a pin
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
That's them at the base of the trash can
By this time the rain had let up, but it was still cold and windy. Some of the mountain views on the way home were pretty, though difficult to capture with the minimal amount of effort I was willing to put in...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 210 mm — 1/640 sec, f/6, ISO 5600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Misty Mountain Pass
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Island Separated by the Tide
but this time without a big marketing engine behind it
When we got to the turnoff to our hotel, we instead made a quick dash the other way up the montain to give a quick look at Yoshida Dam, which we can see from the hotel.
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
3,000 lbs vs. 30 lbs
The 1-meter-diameter sphere of polished Brazillion granite weighs 1.4 metric tons (3,086 pounds), but because it's supported on a bed of water with enough pressure to keep it floating, it can be easily spun with a finger.... at least until it gets wet, as it does once you spin it half way. Then getting a grip is more of a challenge, but it's still fun. The name of the instillation is “uruoi” (うるおい), which I find out now means “moisture/dampness”. How appropriate.
Anthony then ran the length of the top of the dam...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
At the Other End
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
There He Is
That's quite different than the last time he walked across the top of a dam (a year ago, across the snow-covered Komaki Dam in Toyama prefecture).
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — 1/400 sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
View Down to the Village
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 420 mm — 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
There's Our Hotel
The white truck on the road in the upper left is about exactly where I was when I took the lead photo of my earlier post about our hotel.
For reference, here's the view of the dam from the hotel...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — 1/800 sec, f/8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yoshida Dam
Shoudoshima Island, Japan
The skys eventually cleared enough so that I could take advantage of my inability to sleep to nab the Moonrise over Shoudoshima shot early the next morning.
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 15 sec, f/4, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Moonrise Over Shoudoshima
Shoudoshima, Japan
On our short trip to Shoudoshima Island at the end of the year, I took advantage of some post-sickness insomnia to try an impromptu moonrise shot from the balcony of our room. It was freezing outside (literally) and the wind was howling something fierce, but I was able to let the camera sit on the edge of a wall for a long exposure.
I'm pretty sure that the dotted lights on the horizon under the moon are on the Naruto Bridge connecting Awaji Island with Shikoku, 28 miles away.
That's Venus to the lower left of the moon.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — 1/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Two Hours Later
brightening up considerably
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another 20 Minutes Further On
sunrise over Awaji Island in the background
This makes me realize suddenly that the background land seen in this sunset I posted last year must be the Shoudoshima, so today's sunrise is a “reverse angle” of last year's sunset.
The sun quickly hid behind some clouds, but once it rose a bit, the color shifted toward a more normal orange/yellow, and there was a short span with nice sunbeams emerging from the clouds...
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 240 mm — 1/1600 sec, f/6, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95 mm — 1/6400 sec, f/5, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
While I'm at it, here's the sunset over the island, as seen from the ferry (through a dirty window) on our way there a couple of days earlier....
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — 1/4000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 2500 — full exif
Overstuffed Snow Tacos?
We awoke the other day to find a bit of snow... just an inch or two... but it must have been a long, still, wet snow because the accumulation on the leaves outside our balcony was impressively vertical...
Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — full exif
Listing but Holding Firm
mostly
