Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 140mm — ¹/80 sec, f/8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Watering the Flowers, Kyoto Style

I spent the most enjoyable day today playing tour guide to some friends from The States, and although it's not as if I'm lacking pictures from Kyoto, of course I brought my camera along. We visited Kibune, drove through the mountains (seeing this village and these rice paddies), and then headed over to the Arashiyama area of Kyoto to take a look around. (While there, we stopped by Giouji knowing that it would be closed for the evening, just so they could scout its location for a later visit.)

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 150mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lawrence Solum, in Kyoto

My guests were Lawrence Solum, his sister Alex, and their 81-years-young mom Pat. Lawrence is a professor of law (but, to his credit, not a lawyer :-)), Alex is a portrait photographer, and Pat (who still works at 81!) is in a field of psychology that I didn't exactly understand.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 48mm — ¹/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Alex, in Kibune

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Pat and her son

Both Lawrence and Alex are avid photographers, so it was especially enjoyable for me to not only share my Kyoto, but to share it at that level.

In the shot below, photographers will appreciate the sibling rivalry evident in the camera straps.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 98mm — ¹/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sibling Rivalry

Below are a few random shots from the far-western Arashiyama (嵐山) area of Kyoto.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 75mm — ¹/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Roof and Mountains
Entrance building to the Hougon'in Temple (宝厳院)

I'd never heard of the Hougon'in Temple prior to looking up this evening what I'd taken a picture of from the street earlier, but if the outside part we saw as any indication, the inside holds much promise. Apparently, it's not normally open to the public this time of year, but this year it's open until tomorrow Sunday, so I may have to head back there. The forecast is for rain, so we'll see...

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Flowers and Cone

The shot above didn't really turn out quite like I wanted. The yellow and white thing in the background (top center) is a big plastic ice cream cone, but it's too out of focus to really tell. Somehow, I thought it might make a nice shot.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 75mm — ¹/1000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Random Wall

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 110mm — ¹/750 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tofu Restaurant
Specializing in deep-fried tofu

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Leaves outside the Hogon'in Temple

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/45 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Siblings

I'm joking about the sibling rivalry, of course. In the shot above, the first of a group of three rickshaws had just passed, and Alex was following the first while Lawrence was tracking one of the others.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — ¹/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Moss at the Giouji Temple, Kyoto Japan

When I was at the Giouji Temple (祇王寺) the other day (intro · gates and walls), I overheard a taxi driver tell his customers that there were 18 different types of moss at the temple. I believe it, and they seemed to be mixed and matched all over.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — ¹/20 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
More Moss

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — ¹/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
And Still More Moss

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 180mm — ¹/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Oh, and Over Here... More Moss!

They had a little display showing the types of moss to be found on the grounds. The names are in Japanese (and seem to be native Japanese, rather than phonetic representations of the Latin names).

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 35mm — ¹/45 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos
Types of Moss at the Giouji Temple

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — ¹/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — full exif
Neatly Parked

We awoke this morning to find Anthony was playing with his cars, which, as normal, means lining them up in some neat arrangement. I'm not quite sure what little imaginary world he'd built for himself, but understood that it had something to do with an airport.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 35mm — ¹/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — full exif
Anthony's “Airport-Related” Project

He's been lining things up since before he could walk, and for the last four years, he's loved lining up cars, either caravan style or parked neatly. The scene above was one he made today, but he could have made it just as well three years ago or any time in between. I feature today's car parking simply because I thought the three VW Beatles were lined up in a particularly photogenic way, and I like the photo I took.

We have a dozen or so of these little Beatles, having gotten one free with each bottle of Coke during a promotion last summer. They're a tad over an inch long.

Here are the busses. (Compare to the last picture in this post.)

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 44mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — full exif

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 32mm — ¹/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 800 — full exif
Bird's-eye View