{"id":1387,"date":"2009-12-05T22:59:38","date_gmt":"2009-12-05T13:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-12-05\/1387"},"modified":"2010-11-27T21:22:57","modified_gmt":"2010-11-27T12:22:57","slug":"the-boundless-potential-of-nishimura-stone-lanterns-back-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-12-05\/1387","title":{"rendered":"The Boundless Potential of Nishimura Stone Lanterns’<\/i> Back Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: 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.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nD700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 14 mm (cropped a bit) — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/7.1, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nThree Leaves<\/span>\nBehind Nishimura Stone Lanterns<\/i>, Kyoto Japan\n
Portrait-Mode Vertical Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\n1050×<\/span>1680<\/a>  ·  1200×<\/span>1920<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>2560<\/a><\/small>     <\/span>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned\nyesterday<\/a>, the visit to the workshop and gardens of Nishimura Stone Lanterns<\/a>\n(a fifth<\/span>-generation hand stone-carving business) and their back garden<\/a> was an\namazing, overwhelming, mentally draining experience.<\/p>\n\n

I haven't even given my photos a first<\/span>-pass inspection, but soon after\ntaking the photo above I knew<\/span> it was emblematic of our time there, and knew\nthat I would<\/span> post it early.<\/p>\n\n

Here's a photo by Paul Barr of me taking it...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D3 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 62 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>100 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 1600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGetting Close at 14mm<\/span>\nPhoto by Paul Barr<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

As you can see in Paul's shot, the leaves are resting on a fairly<\/span> simple\nsquare column, with a few<\/span> adornments at the top, ending with a nice<\/span> round\nball. It looks<\/span> like various pieces are stacked, but it's a single,<\/span> solid\npiece of stone. It's one of<\/span> the most simple items there.<\/p>\n\n

Leaves were lying everywhere, but I felt<\/span> drawn to how these three\nparticular leaves found themselves on top of the column, so I endeavored<\/span> to\ncapture the scene, and the sense of calmness I felt<\/span> they exuded.<\/p>\n\n

The problem was that so very many opportunities immediately presented\nthemselves that I felt<\/span> overwhelmed. Unworthy. Inadequate.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLet Me Try on Edge, Abstract<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMaybe Standing Alone?<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 1100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWhat About Looking Straight Down?<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 1100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLet's Try For Something More Edgy<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 14 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/7.1, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nUltra Wide Angle, Straight Down<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I'm disappointed in that last shot because, well, it's boring, but I put<\/span>\na lot<\/span> of work into getting it, so I'll share it here.<\/p>\n\n

I'm not sure what I was hoping for, but I thought<\/span> it might be a bit<\/span> more\ndramatic, but as it was, the height of the pillar is completely lost and so\nthe leaves lack context despite the fact that you can see all around\nthem. Boring.<\/p>\n\n

The problem I had in getting this shot in the first place was in keeping\nmy feet out of frame. I'm tall and<\/span> so have long arms for holding the camera\naway while pointing down, but apparently not long enough for when a 14mm<\/span>\nlens is used with a full<\/span>-frame camera. I couldn't<\/span> stand far enough back to keep my\nlegs out of frame.<\/p>\n\n

So, I had Paul<\/span> stand up-slope from me and adopt a sturdy<\/span> stance as I\ntook<\/span> his hand in one of my own, then with his support I was<\/span> able to lean\nwaaaaaaay out and over the leaves with the camera in the other, then got\nthe shot. If anyone<\/span> saw us, I'm sure they<\/span> thought we were nuts.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, I could<\/span> have easily spent a good<\/span> hour\nthere with the camera just in exploring those three leaves. In the background<\/span> of some of these shots you can certainly see that there are\nplenty of other stone columns, lanterns, basins, etc., and in wide sweeping\nviews they're just that, “a bunch<\/span> of stone things”. But as you<\/span> walk around,\nyou can see that each one<\/i> is unique, captivating, and worthy of its\nown hour.... or two.<\/p>\n\n

And there were hundreds.<\/p>\n\n

It was truly overwhelming. It was exhausting<\/span> as my mind raced among awe\nand wonderment at what must have gone into making each one, musings about\nhow old each might be (the oldest item, we were told, predated the family,\ndated back 800 years), speculation as to what some of the less familiar\nshapes might be for, and always, consciously and unconsciously, running\nthrough photographic calculations.... compositions, depth of field,\nlighting, color.<\/p>\n\n

It was “awesome” in both the younger generation's “really amazing”\nsense, and in the original “struck one with a deep<\/span> feeling of awe”\nsense.<\/p>\n\n

If I were a good photographer, I could<\/span> produce a photo<\/span>-filled post about\nthis site every day for a year,<\/span> and have it be interesting every time. I suspect<\/span> that a very<\/span> good photographer could do that using photos from just\none season, but with the changing seasons (and even changing light during\nthe course of a day<\/span>) I'm sure many new opportunities are continually\npresenting themselves. I have never<\/span> visited a place<\/span> with such unbound\npotential.<\/p>\n\n

It's a 15-minute drive from my place, so to tap that potential, I need only<\/span> to become a good<\/span> photographer.<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned yesterday, the visit to the workshop and gardens of Nishimura Stone Lanterns (a fifth-generation hand stone-carving business) and their back garden was an amazing, overwhelming, mentally draining experience.<\/p>

I haven't even given my photos a first-pass inspection, but soon after taking the photo above I knew it was emblematic of our time there, and knew that I would post it early.<\/p>

Here's a photo by Paul Barr of me taking it...<\/p>

As you can see in Paul's shot, the leaves are resting on a fairly simple square column, with a few adornments at the top, ending with [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1,2,23,6,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}