Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 102 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/4, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Property Boundary

While out with Anthony riding a bike yesterday, I took a few other random shots that seem interesting or pretty (at least, to me) that I'd like to share. These were all taken within 100 yards of each other, in the Okazaki area of Kyoto.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
Some Kid Doing What Kids Do

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150 mm — ¹/2500 sec, f/4.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Bird

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 185 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/4.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Faster Than Autofocus

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Girls on Swing

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/9, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Gate

The main gate of the Heian Shrine has appeared on my blog a bazillion times – see the “related posts” box below for a few from the past year – but I'd never seen it from this angle (from its north-west). Anthony had ridden his back to a back parking lot of the Municipal library, and after taking the “Property Boundary” shot above, I turned to see the gate with a different shadow/light pattern than I'd ever seen, so I snapped a picture. I guess you had to be there.

I reported a couple of months ago about a Black Frame Syndrome affecting my D200, whereby the raw image data was fine, but the embedded jpg previews were all black. (A NEF file has two embedded JPGs.)

Because I shoot raw, the only practical effect for me is that I get a black frame when I try to review the images on the camera LCD, but someone shooting in JPG mode would find all their images completely blank. Yikes!

This happened to me for the second time yesterday, but this time I believe I've figured it out.

It turns out that the D200's white balance setting can be set to a white-balance preset that has not yet been defined, and when this happens, you get the Black Frame Syndrome. The raw file is saved with the white-balance notation as if automatic white balance had been selected, but the non-existent preset is used for the JPG engine, yielding a blank frame.

Thus, if you find yourself suffering from “Black Frame Syndrome”, check that your white-balance setting is not “Pre” (or, not one of the five “Pre” settings that's not yet defined).

The white-balance setting is adjusted with the thumb-wheel while holding down the “WB” button, and it turns out that I sometimes hit that by accident when I intend to hit the ISO button next to it. It's my fault for using the wrong control, of course, but it's certainly a camera firmware bug that it allows you to use a white-balance preset that hasn't been set.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Proud Bike-Rider

It's been almost two years since Anthony got a bicycle, but although he enjoyed it a few times at first, he didn't have all that much interest again until lately, so when we went out for a ride today, it was perhaps the half-dozenth time we'd been out. However, I have a feeling he'll really be wanting to do it more, because today – for the first time – he was able to ride unassisted for fairly long stretches.

I'd used Carlos' great advice on teaching a kid to ride a bike a month or so ago, which perhaps sparked Anthony's renewed interest.

Kids often learn to ride bikes very early in Japan (three years old is not uncommon), so at five years old, Anthony is pretty late in the game, but he doesn't feel that — he's just proud, as are Fumie and I.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 86 mm — ¹/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Man and his Steed
(waiting for the cameraman to finish so that he can ride)

Of course, when riding near the playground, we must stop for some of that...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 105 mm — ¹/1500 sec, f/3.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/4.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
A Touch of Snow

Having grown up in Ohio – land of arctic winters and steam-bath summers – I learned to enjoy the change of seasons. I missed them when I lived in California, but Kyoto is better, with glorious springs and autumns. Kyoto's winter is short on snow and thus is fairly drab, so I'm excited whenever the forecast has any chance of snow in it. Sadly, nothing usually comes of it, so any flakes that do materialize are cause for enjoyment. I love snow so long as I don't have to drive in it, so I'm always wishing for more.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 45 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
“Hurry Up With the Camera”
“I want to play”

Yesterday mid-morning it started snowing a bit, and by 11am we had a nice light dusting. But it kept snowing and snowing and snowing, and with the temperature just below freezing, it was the kind of snow that came down in big gobs and stuck to anything it touched.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Winter Wonderland

Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy this snow because I did have to drive. Anthony had a play-date with Zak's son, Gen, and with only a light dusting on the ground at 11am, I decided to make the 20-minute drive to Otsu. The bit of snow was pretty, but the drive was entirely uneventful until we came out of the mile-long tunnel under the mountains separating Kyoto from Otsu, into much more snow. The main road was sill okay, but we had to take the first exit after coming out of the tunnel, and the exit was decidedly not okay. I knew it would be iffy, so I told Anthony to be quiet so I could concentrate, and I took it very carefully.

The next car that took the exit, perhaps 10 seconds behind me, wasn't so careful, and I could watch in my rearview as the driver lost control and the car just slowly drifted away from the center toward the side, stopping abruptly when it smashed head-on into the leading edge of a guard rail. The whole front-end and hood positively exploded on impact.

I carefully stopped the car where I thought it would be safe, and ran back to make sure the driver was okay. I noticed with disgust that three cars that came on the scene right after simply tiptoed around the wreck and went on their way. Anyway, the lady was fine, and had a cell phone, so I returned to Anthony and my car, and proceeded down the long exit.

The exit ends with a tight curve that is both steeply banked side-to-side and up-and-down as it drops traffic down to the surface streets below. When I got there, I found it to be pure ice, with two cars stopped because they couldn't navigate it without sliding into things. The entire exit was covered with this ice, but it only really became a problem at this point when the road was so steeply sloped.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/350 sec, f/8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Exceedingly Slippery

Over the next several hours, I tried to move the car in small increments, sometimes able to stop sliding into something only by jamming the car into reverse and gunning it. It was a very unfun time. Even some cars with snow chains slid uncontrollably.

At one point about 100 yards from where I first stopped, I was able to put the car into a spot where it was safe from people sliding into it, and I let Anthony out to play in the snow. The picture of him above was taken just when he got out, after having spent the last hour and a half in a very tense atmosphere. We had a snowball fight, which helped the mood considerably.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sweeping the Walk

I eventually tried to move it again, and got another 100 yards until I got stuck on a slight hill going up. I just couldn't get any traction. I could go backwards, and I could slide sideways, but I couldn't go up. It was pathetic. I know I didn't have snow tires, but it's a Mercedes and I expected better stock tires. Pathetic.

After another hour or so – and much to Anthony's joy – I finally decided to abandon the car and walk the rest of the way to Zak's house. I was very worried that someone trying to go up the hill would lose control and slide into my car, but I couldn't really move it, so there was nothing I could do.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 18 mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Abandoned at the Side of the Road

So, we walked, holding hands tightly to keep from slipping on the icy slopes. Occasionally, I'd stop to take a picture. The snow was still coming down in huge clumps, so the FotoSharp camera raincoat that I always keep scrunched up in my bag came in very handy: I couldn't have used the camera without it.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Roadside Tree

Once we got off the side of the mountain into the main city, it was no less icy, but easier to navigate without the slopes.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/4.5, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Almost to Gen's House

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/7.1, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
The Otsu Mary Disappears into the Snow

When we finally arrived at Zak's place four hours late, we were wet, tired, and wet. We made a horrible mess of his place in short order — Sorry Zak and Maki!

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pretty Patterns in the Snow

I felt unsettled, so after a few hours I headed back to check on the car. Halfway there, I found a stack of bags of salt by the side of the road, so I carried one (25kg – 55 pounds!) up the rest of the way to my car. It didn't help, and I just could not get the car to move forward. It was both pathetic and strange at the same time, since I felt almost as if I had the parking brake on, or something. The car should have been able to navigate the hill. To be clear, though, I didn't have the parking brake on. I dunno what the problem was. I returned to Zak's.

As it started to get dark, the lighting became beautiful in a very odd way, with almost everything taking on a surreal grayscale, as if I were in an old movie. Yet, there were occasionally punches of color, such as the line of brake lights in the shot below.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 75 mm — ¹/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Almost Monochrome

The side of the mountain was beautiful, with different varieties of tree holding the snow with differing patterns.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 120 mm — ¹/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Street Light

The one bit of color in the mountain-side shot above is a street light on the road I was on earlier, just after it comes out of the tunnel. By this time, it had been closed to all but those with chains or snow tires.

Around six in the evening, Anthony and I headed home via train and subway, where Fumie mercifully had a hot bath waiting.

Today was sunny and warm (in the mid 40s, Fahrenheit), so most of the snow melted away. Around 3pm, I made the trip back to get the car, and drove it home.

My blog and everything else hosted on my server may be inaccessible on and off for a while, until I can get some hardware replaced. A CPU fan has failed, so the thing is turning into a space heater until it hits thermal shutdown.

Wish me luck...