NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cake

I realized recently that I'd yet to finish posting about my brother-in-law Shogo's wedding to Namiko. My flow had been interrupted by the sudden idea to make a photo book for them, and I neglected to pick it up even after posting the candid bride portrait last month. This post continues from “Reception, Part V: Entertainment”, and completes the story.

And what comes after the entertainment? Dessert.

Of course, the main feature is the wedding cake.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sliced and Ready

The bride and groom stood by the table and handed out cake as the guests filed by, after which the guest could add additional tasty treats from the ample spread on the next tables...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Special Delivery

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Always a Photo Op

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Anthony's Favorite Part of the Whole Event

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Brothers in Law “Dessert”
Fumie's dad (left) shares a beer with his sister's husband

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stuffed Bears at the Table of Honor

After dessert, Shogo and Namiko made some speeches of appreciation to their folks, and presented the mothers with Teddy bears embroidered with their (the now newly-wed child's) name, birth date, and weight; each bear was made to weigh exactly what the child weighed at birth.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ready to Present the Bears

(They felt much heavier than a newborn, though, because you see a Teddy bear and expect it to weigh accordingly.)

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bearing Gifts
is much easier than bearing the child they're meant to represent

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Proud Papa?

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Father-of-the-Groom
Thank-you-for-Coming Speech

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 52 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Shogo Exits With His Bride
I think this ranks up there with the candid bride portrait as the best picture of the event
because Shogo's radiating confidence is so full of awesome

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/160 sec, f/2.5, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
End of Event “Receiving Line”
guests are bid farewell on the way out
(“seeing-off line”?)

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

Dawdling with the camera, as I tend to do, I was the last one to leave.

NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

I've just pushed a major update to my Picasa Face-Data Import plugin for Adobe Lightroom so that it now uses new plugin features of Lightroom 3 to maintain real keywords for the names associated with images.

It's much less kludgy than the version for Lightroom 2, but using Picasa on images in your Lightroom catalog still comes with major caveats. See the plugin's page and last year's “Giving Up on Picasa Face Recognition” for more.

However, if you do use Picasa and Lightroom in tandem, this plugin makes for a reasonable way to import Picasa's face-recognition data to Lightroom.

NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Early last month, at the start of a most photogenic fall-foliage season in the Kyoto area, I posted “First Taste of Fall Colors at Shiga's Amazing Kongourinji Temple”, ending that post with this photo:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Start of a Very Long Path
300 meters of sorrow and anguish await

Vertical Desktop-Background Versions
1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2560

I had intended a quick followup post to explain the “300 meters of sorrow and anguish await” caption of that photo, but I was precluded from doing so by a subsequent succession of visits to other amazing places (including the Konzou Temple, the Kotou-in Temple, the most impressive Yoshiminedera Temple, the Sanzen-in Temple, the Sokusouji Temple, the gardens at Shouzan, the Iwato Ochiba Shrine, among others). I felt a bit overwhelmed with the orgy of photogenic foliage goodness, but it's a wonderful problem to have.

Anyway, back to the location of today's post, the many visual and awe-inspiring delights of the Kongourinji Temple on the eastern side of Lake Biwa must continue to wait for later followup posts, because today's post is about pain and sorrow.

First I must explain that Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines are religious locations, but for most Japanese, they are cultural and perhaps vaguely spiritual, rather than religious, somewhat in the same way a woman might wear a cross necklace as a fashion statement rather than for its religious meaning. I am Catholic and so temples and shrines have no spiritual/religious meaning for me, but because they do to others I treat them with respect and conduct myself accordingly when present.

But my visit to the Kongourinji Temple turned out to be deeply moving... almost spiritual... because of what lies beyond the gate in the photo above.

Here's a photo from the same position with a different focus:

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Little Statues
with bibs and pinwheels

The little statues are Jizou (地蔵), a common sight in neighborhoods throughout Japan as a wish for the protection of children. At this temple, I was told, they were each placed here by parents who had lost a child, as a form of prayer that the child will find an easy path to heaven.

There were a lot of statues.

The pinwheels were in holders normally filled with flowers by the family, and while walking about I overheard several Japanese wonder aloud why there were pinwheels instead. It seemed obvious to me that children would prefer a pinwheel to flowers, and that the plastic pinwheels would last a lot longer, too. The few that I broached the idea to readily agreed.

They lined both sides of the path, according to a sign, for 300 meters. From where I was at this point, the path wound off into the distance as far as I could see...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos

Occasionally, people ventured in...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos

A TV crew from Tokyo came by...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos

I stood outside the path.... the main entrance to the temple complex was a different way.... but I couldn't help but feel overcome by strong emotions. My first thought was actually not that of losing my own child, but of family members I know who have. I started to feel a deep sorrow, even if only by proxy, to think of parents losing a child, and for the specific parents represented by each statue.

It was almost spiritual, and was the first time I'd felt anything remotely like that while visiting a shrine or temple, which to me are places of cultural, historical, and photographic delight. The more I stood there, the more dispirited I felt. Yet, I somehow felt glad for the emotion, that I had an experience that transcended “pretty picture!”. It's weird.

I've lit incense at a temple/shrine before, but only because I like the smell. But for some reason I felt compelled to light two sticks for the aforementioned family members....

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Thinking of Your Sorrow

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

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

The sign at the start of the path says something along the lines of “Let's go to the goddess of mercy. Let's persevere for the whole 300 meters for great benefit. Let's sweat.”

I found out later that each statue is numbered. The two flanking the entrance are the last two, numbers 999 and 1,000.

Continued here...

NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Collectively, Americans have a reputation for being a touch litigious (such as someone suing McDonald's because their hot coffee was hot, for example), but this article about a suit in Japan perhaps takes the cake:

Someone took a photo from a public place that included within its scene the publicly-visible view of her apartment building, including the publicly-visible view of the laundry she chose to hang outside on her balcony in full view of anyone walking by. This photo was then put up by someone on some web page somewhere, and over the course of time Google's searchbots found it and included it in Google's search results.

And so, for crying out loud, this 20-something lady is suing Google for $7,000 “in consolation money and other payment”.

In one Japanese-language news-discussion board I came across, the first comment (of 450+ that where there when I found it) was simply the phrase “persecution complex” (被害妄想), which is putting it mildly. Yet, as ridiculous as it is, her complaint made it as far as court, something that would not happen even in sue-happy America. I'd be very interested to know what laws have allowed it to get that far here. Do I need to worry about what's in the background of photos I post on my blog?

I guess common sense is not enough... you really should know the local laws, especially if they are pathetically stupid like the German laws that make it illegal to call someone a nasty name or even merely giving an unfriendly glance. I kid you not. (Oh-oh, will Germany sue me because I called their law stupid?)

Anyway, if anyone has insight into specific Japanese laws in this area, I'd appreciate a comment....