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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/60 sec, f/5, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Truecolor Image

What am I?

(This one is lame, I know, sorry. Comments are moderated, so answers won't show up publicly until I get up tomorrow morning.)

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 2800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Ram Kulkarni
at the Shogunzuka Overlook, Kyoto Japan

My best friend from college, Ram Kulkarni, was in Japan for business, and so stopped by to visit in Kyoto this evening. I saw him previously about a year ago in Tokyo, and prior to that was likely about 11 years ago when he was Best Man at my wedding.

Last time he'd been working at a think tank as an advisor to a former prime minister in Finland, but now he has a much more demanding boss: he's started his own company in Bangalore, India.

I brought him up to the real Shogunzuka Overlook, which I actually entered for the first time. It has a very nice garden, and, of course, the overlooks with sweeping views of downtown Kyoto.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 360 — map & image data — nearby photos
Decidedly Pink Blossoms
of some sort

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Cherry? Peach? Late Plum??
some petals are mixed pink and white

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pink
and just a touch of green

It was mostly overcast, but the sun tried peaking out a bit...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/8, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Hazy Dayz over Kyoto

Finally, just as the sun was approaching the horizon, the clouds cleared away and we got some very warm light...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Enjoying the Sunset
from the several-story high observation platform at Shogunzuka

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/7.1, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lotsa' Pretty Flowers

Here are some more pictures from last week's day trip to Awaji Island's Awaji Hana Sajiki (“Awaji Flower Review”), which I wrote about in last week's “A Few Flowers in Awaji” post.

When we arrived after a two-hour drive, we found a parking lot mostly free of cars, and completely free of cost, which was a very nice bonus. The first flowers you see upon leaving the parking lot is this somewhat sparse field...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 36 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/6.3, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sky, Ocean, Flowers
but it was hazy, so it's hard to tell the sky from the ocean in these pics

Frankly, it was a bit disappointing to see such a scraggly field after such a long drive, though at least it was big. The disappointment totally evaporated after the next rise, were we were greeted with a big bed of something pretty (petunias?)...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 50 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/8, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Now This Is More Like It

I still didn't understand the magnitude of what we were in for until following Anthony over yet another rise...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/8, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos

...and found a whole hillside covered in flowers...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
(you can even see a boat on the ocean in this shot)

The yellow flowers are nanohana (Rapeseed), which means, in one translation, “side dish flower”, which makes a lot more sense than the “field flowers” I misidentified it as in the earlier post; they're not uncommon as a side dish in nicer bentos, and I had some just the other day.

The purple flowers are murasaki hanana – ムラサキハナナ（紫花菜） – “purple flower leaf”. I don't know the English name, but the Wikipedia Japan article has lots of Latin names on it.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/3.2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Artistic Interpretation
sorta'

It turns out that we still didn't know the full extent of things. Due to the lay of the hill, there was quite a bit between the yellow flowers in the foreground and the yellow and purple flowers in the background.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Somewhat Unsettling
big eye

The eye design is apparently something related to the poet Kenji Miyazawa (1896 - 1933). I'd never heard of him or his work, so didn't think much about the eye other than it was pretty, but slightly discomforting.

In the photo above, on the horizon halfway between the center and left edge, you can see two faint white towers. They're the main towers of the Akashi Straights Bridge, which I wrote about last year in “Heavy Lifting: Supporting the Longest Suspension Bridge in the World”. The two towers look to be close together, but owing to the long length of the bridge, one is 25% further away than the other. (One is 4.4 miles away, while the other is 5.7 miles away.)

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/8000 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Noisy Grass”

Fumie found a plant with tiny heart-shaped seed-filled pods that rattled, penpengusa (shepard's purse). Anthony and I had never seen it.

One part of the hill separating sections of flowers had a big wooden walkway, allowing wheelchair access and, on a rainy day, mud-free access...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/800 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Interesting Shadows

The yellow flowers were most prevalent, likely because they're also a crop....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/2000 sec, f/4, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yellow Flowers
and a big orange weed

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Less Flash, More Class

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Photo Op

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/11, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lotsa' Colors

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 60 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Layers

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Family Photo
photo by a kind passerby

Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fun

Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/11, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
Fun at 24mm
fisheye distortion

Nikon D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Waving Bye-Bye to the Sun

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — full exif
Headfirst Into His Future

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 175 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — full exif
It's a Big Step

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 220 — full exif
And Just Like That He Was Gone

We all took the bus together last Thursday to the Anthony's first-grade entrance ceremony.

On Friday, his first day of school, I rode the bus with him.

On Monday (yesterday), he rode the bus himself while I followed along on the scooter “just in case”, as we had practiced during spring break.

Today he went on the bus all by himself.

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/11, ISO 280 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Rollerblader's Big Anpanman Head
but that's not the weird part
( look in the background )

As I mentioned in the previous post, after the other day's visit to the far-west-Kyoto mountain Konzou Temple, we scooted over to a park in Otsu City. There were some rollerbladers, which is not uncommon for that park on a weekend, but they included one not quite of this world...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/11, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/11, ISO 720 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/125 sec, f/11, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos

I really have no comment...