{"id":1942,"date":"2012-02-14T20:33:15","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T11:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-02-14\/1942"},"modified":"2012-02-14T20:33:53","modified_gmt":"2012-02-14T11:33:53","slug":"setsubun-festival-at-the-heian-shrine-intense-burn-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2012-02-14\/1942","title":{"rendered":"Setsubun Festival at the Heian Shrine: Intense Burn Begins"},"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\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/16, ISO 5600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLots Going On<\/span>\nthree conflicting sources of light, multiple planes of interest, and some serious heat\n<\/div>\n\n

Continuing with posts about the Setsubun Festival at the Heian Shrine (Kyoto, Japan) earlier this month,\nfollowing on from\n“Attack (and Repulsion) of the Evil Spirits<\/a>”\nand\n“Beans of Good Fortune<\/a>”,\nwe move on to the bonfire event.<\/p>\n\n

I covered the same event four years ago in “Intense Burn: Shinto Rite at\nthe Heian Shrine<\/a>”, so this year I was<\/span> concerned less about documenting\nthe event in photos than to see what kind of interesting shots I might<\/span>\nget.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHalf<\/span>\nthere were two pallets of sticks, and two pyres to be set alight\n<\/div>\n\n

In the event, two bonfires are set alight, and the bundles of sticks are\nthrown in one by one. Each stick has a wish<\/span> written on it, and it's my\nunderstanding that the thought is that the wishes ascend to the gods with\nthe smoke.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n9450 Sticks<\/span>\n189 bundles at 50 sticks per\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPhoto Op While Waiting<\/span>\ntaking a picture of someone taking a picture<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPriests Arrive<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 280 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The light was a challenge... things were predominately lit by either the\nwarm glow of the setting sun, or in the shade, which is lit by the cold\nblue of the wide expanse of sky.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nReady To Light<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRipples<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Intense heat was quickly apparent, before flames or even much smoke.\nWith the thin depth of field at f\/2, one got an interesting and unique\nslice of the tumultuous air.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSmokin'<\/span>\nPyres, beyond the row of chanting priests, start burning in earnest\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5000 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMinute Later<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nRaging<\/span>\njust two minutes after “Smokin'”\n<\/div>\n\n

Once the flame was raging in earnest, I tried<\/span> some shots of the chanting priests with the flames as a backdrop.<\/span>..<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPaper<\/span>\nisolated at f\/2\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 1000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPriest<\/span>\nIsolated at f\/5.6\n<\/div>\n\n

This was a situation where the thin depth of field didn't work, and even\nat f\/11 — the Burning Hot Lyrics<\/a> photo\nthat I posted<\/span> on the day of the event — I think<\/span> the flames in the\nbackground weren't emphasized enough. The lens in question<\/a> is meant\nto be used wide open, so I don't<\/span> have much at f\/16 of note except for the\nphoto that leads this post.<\/p>\n\n

I wasn't able to move easily from my position (I was<\/span> the first to have\nstaked out a spot,<\/span> but eventually was cemented in by a solid<\/span> wall of folks\nwith cameras) but I tried<\/span> the same kind of shots with one of the other\npriests, with less luck....<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 360 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nCentered<\/span>\nbut not compelling\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 220 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nA Bit<\/span> Better<\/span>\nbut still not very good\n<\/div>\n\n

It was better with more depth of field and some wind-whipped flames,\nwhich again brings us back to the aforementioned “Burning Hot Lyrics<\/a>”\nshot.<\/p>\n\n\n

I'll continue this in another post, but for context, here are some wider\nshots that I was<\/span> able to take because I had<\/span> arrived so early to get a good<\/span>\nposition...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>6400 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nScene at 50mm<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 24mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/7.1, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nScene at 24mm<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f\/2.8 @ 14mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f<\/span>\/7.1, ISO 1400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nScene at 14mm<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

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

Continuing with posts about the Setsubun Festival at the Heian Shrine (Kyoto, Japan) earlier this month, following on from \"Attack (and Repulsion) of the Evil Spirits\" and \"Beans of Good Fortune\", we move on to the bonfire event.<\/p>

I covered the same event four years ago in \"Intense Burn: Shinto Rite at the Heian Shrine\", so this year I was concerned less about documenting the event in photos than to see what kind of interesting shots I might get.<\/p>

In the event, two bonfires are set alight, and the bundles of sticks are thrown in one by one. Each stick [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,26,6,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942"}],"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=1942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}