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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 900 — full exif
Santa's Preparation
after the elves have gone a bit crazy

I like Amazon.com, and use both its US and Japan sites all the time, but I've never seen such wasteful packaging as I did with an order that recently arrived via forklift from Amazon Japan. The six boxes in the lower part of the stack are fairly spacious, but five of them each contain exactly one sliver-thin 15” × 15” LEGO® Base Plate, a couple of crumpled pieces of paper as ineffective padding, and a lot of air...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — full exif
Can You See It In There?

It's fantastically ridiculous. The entire order, shown below, could have easily fit into any two of the boxes..

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm cropped — ¹/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 — full exif
opening the boxes and finding just these few small things would be
Quite the Anticlimatic Experience

Heck, the empty boxes, even when flattened and stacked, still took up substantially more room than the products. It was by far the most ridiculous packaging I've ever seen or even heard of.

It's all the more amazing because Amazon takes proactive steps to reduce packaging and related hassles, with their “Frustration-Free Packaging” initiative, and even some products that ship without product packaging (I've gotten some computer cables that arrived loose in a small box together with the other items I ordered). If you visit your order at Amazon after you've received it, you'll even find a prompt asking for your comments on how it was packaged. I'll do that for this order, referring them to this blog post.

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I've just published a new plugin for Adobe Lightroom, the JPEG Export Quality Tester that I mentioned in last summer's “An Analysis of Lightroom JPEG Export Quality Settings”. The plugin allows you to quickly generate and inspect versions of an image at all the JPEG quality settings that Lightroom offers.

I'd written the plugin quite some time ago, but it took this long to polish it up enough to publish. It's got somewhat of a limited appeal, but hopefully someone will enjoy it.

It joins my 20+ other plugins on my Lightroom Goodies page.

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos
Checking the Back Door
「山の家はせがわ」(Yama no Ie Hasegawa), Kyoto Japan

I ended my previous post, Kyoto Mountain Restaurant “Yama no Ie Hasegawa”, commenting that I wanted to take Fumie to the middle-of-nowhere restaurant I'd visited the other day with Paul Barr, after having seen it mentioned on a friend's blog. I did that today, visiting for lunch with Fumie and Anthony.

We sat out on the enclosed-for-the-winter porch.

After our delicious lunch, I got out my camera, Fumie had a cup of coffee, and Anthony clowned around...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos

When a cat started meowing loudly just outside the porch, Anthony went over and meowed back. Back and forth they had a conversation....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Conversations

There was a cat-entrance flap, so the cat could have come in whenever he wanted, but seemed content to chat with Anthony from outside.

Across from the restaurant is a hillside with a rope that Anthony found inviting to climb...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/3.2, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Grabbing the Rope

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Starting Up

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Now Easy Going

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

There are a lot of trails in the area, and we took one that led right above where Anthony was climbing the rope...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Restaurant From Across the Way
frankly, it looks much nicer inside

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/125 sec, f/2.5, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Enclosed Porch
we sat at the left-most table

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sort Of Christmassy Colors
the green fuzzy plants seemed like some kind of freaky “evergreen spider vine” I'd not seen before

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Steep

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Towering

On the way back, at the entrance to the path I noticed a tree covered with plastic strips, wrapped tightly with wire...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bound

I suppose this was here (near the parking lot) as an easy-to-access example of what they do with some of the tree farming in this area. If you're not familiar with why they'd wrap a tree in these white plastic strips, I wrote about it last year in “More Discoveries with Nils: Mountain Roads and Spooky Forests”.

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pot-Bellied Stove and a Rack of Wine
Cozy Restaurant and Inn “Yama no Ie Hasegawa”
deep in the mountains north-west of Kyoto, Japan

In my previous post about the carpet of yellow at the Iwato Ochiba Shrine in the mountains of north-west Kyoto, I mentioned that my inspiration for venturing out to see the shrine was a blog post by Britto about his bicycle ride there. He also mentions stopping for a bite to eat at the middle-of-nowhere restaurant Yama no Ie Hasegawa (山の家　はせがわ — “Mountain House Hasegawa”, with “Hasegawa” being the family name of the proprietor). As it so happened, on my trip out to the shrine, Paul and I were getting hungry about the time we came upon the restaurant's sign, and recognizing it from Britto's post, we stopped in.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/4, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sign at the Road

There wasn't much along this road through the mountain forest except mountains and forest, but behind the sign is an area of carved stone that reminds me of my “Mysterious Cut Stones in the Mountains of Kyoto” post.

The restaurant and its parking lot are set fairly far back from the road.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hammocks on the Front Porch
this is looking like my kind of place

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/5000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Two Seconds After Sitting Down
half a second after “Hey, Paul”

We ordered coffee and lunch and looked around inside (having sat outside in the enclosed patio). The far end of the large one-room floor, beyond the pot-bellied wood-burning stove, was sort of an open storage/kitchen area...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/5, ISO 5600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Preparing Our Coffee
heating water in the background; serving tray in the foreground

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Almost Ready

There's a small second-floor open loft where you can stay for 5,000 yen/night (about $60/night)...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Small Loft Area

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
There Goes Our Coffee

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Vicks
a good-natured member of the restaurant staff

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.2, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Another Good-Natured Member of the Staff

We thought that the lady might be the owner, but it turns out it's an older guy that could well be her dad. It adds to the quaintness to assume she's the daughter, but we don't know. She was very nice.

Near the entrance to the restaurant is a path leading up into the mountains...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Mystery Path

I would have liked to see where it led.

I'd like to take Fumie here for lunch sometime... I think she'd really like it.

Update: I did, and she did. 🙂

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hey, Check It Out, On That Rock!
I think I see a yellow leaf!

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lots of Leaves

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Full Coverage

Last week, Kyoto friend Britto posted on his blog about a couple of recent bicycle trips he'd recently taken, including one to a shrine in the mountains north of Kyoto that sounded so appealing that I went there myself the next day (though I went by motorbike). Paul Barr is still in town, so I invited him along; that's him in the photos above.

It was a long and steep enough trip on the scooter... mad props to Britto for doing it on a bicycle!

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Iwato Ochiba Shrine
in the mountains north-west of Kyoto, Japan

In the shrine's name (岩戸落葉神社; iwato ochiba jinja), iwato means “rock above a cave entrance”, ochiba means “fallen leaves”, and jinja means “Shinto shrine”. I didn't investigate the large rock face behind the shrine, but the “fallen leaves” part got my attention.

The last few weeks in Kyoto have been filled with spectacular fall foliage, both by day and by night, but after a while, spectacular or not, one starts looking for something a bit different. The carpet of leaves at the Koutou-in Temple post represented a bit of the search for something different, but since most places clean the fallen leaves as quickly as they fall (why!?), it's hard to find a good carpet-of-leaves area, so when I saw the wonderful carpet in Britto's post, I knew I had to visit.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Last Bit of Sun

The clouds and the mountains took the sun almost as soon as we got there, but we had five minutes with some intermittent sun. Most of these shots are from after the direct sun was gone, but the two above, and a few below, were lit with the last rays we got...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/4000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/4000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Steps
in there somewhere

The carpet is fed from a bunch of huge ginkgo trees that tower above the area, now almost completely bare...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos

I don't generally care for ginkgo trees or their leaves, perhaps because I associate them with Kyoto's annual atrocious arboreal neutering that leaves large areas of the city looking horrid. But maybe there's hope because there didn't seem to be any neutering done this year, and the streets lined with ginkgo were beautiful.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Drip Fountain

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 @ 50 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bifurcated
one side is quite a step up from the other

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/4, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Steps

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Auspicious
Shinto symbols hanging from the gate

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 @ 24 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Engulfed