{"id":634,"date":"2007-11-13T20:26:59","date_gmt":"2007-11-13T11:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-11-13\/634"},"modified":"2007-11-13T20:26:59","modified_gmt":"2007-11-13T11:26:59","slug":"photo-essay-why-i-hate-living-in-kyoto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-11-13\/634","title":{"rendered":"Photo Essay: Why I Hate Living in Kyoto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

I really hate where I live. Not only Kyoto<\/span> in general, but in\nparticular, the specific area of Kyoto where I live.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This morning I walked to the nearby convenience store for some bread,\nand I was<\/span> assaulted<\/b> by beautiful scenes of inner-city fall foliage. Not only did<\/span> they positively scream<\/i> at me, they punched me in the\nface, demanding<\/i> that I photograph<\/span> them. Geez, all I wanted<\/span> was some\nbread, and I get<\/span> this!? I don't<\/span> have time for this. What a crappy<\/span> place to\nlive.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>350 sec, f\/9, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMachiya on Jingu-Michi, Kyoto Japan<\/span>\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\nStandard: 1024×<\/span>768<\/a>  ·  1440×<\/span>1080<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>1200<\/a><\/small>     <\/span>\nWidescreen:  1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a><\/small><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Jingu-Michi (“Shrine Street”, which dead-ends at the front entrance to\nthe Heian Shrine) is lined with the trees seen in the photo above. The trees<\/span> are various shades of orange and yellow, with a good<\/span> hint of green\nstill remaining. When I came<\/span> around the corner to the convenience store and\nsaw them, they took my breath away. I bought<\/span> my bread, returned home to get\nmy camera, and came back to find them not as interesting as I first<\/span>\nthought, but still worthy to be captured.<\/p>\n\n

The trees lined the whole street, but the machiya-style<\/a> house above\n– next to the cafe that's next to the convenience store – made\nthe nicest backdrop for photos. The weather<\/span> was mostly cloudy, but I\nmanaged<\/span> to snap the picture above during a brief<\/span> moment of sunshine.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMostly Yellow<\/span>\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\nStandard: 1024×<\/span>768<\/a>  ·  1440×<\/span>1080<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>1200<\/a><\/small>     <\/span>\nWidescreen:  1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a><\/small><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nStill a Touch<\/span> of Green<\/span>\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\nStandard: 1024×<\/span>768<\/a>  ·  1440×<\/span>1080<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>1200<\/a><\/small>     <\/span>\nWidescreen:  1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a><\/small><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

In the background of the picture above, and in the upper-right of the\nfirst picture, are bamboo stalks that line the top of the wall, cut to a\nsharp<\/span> point, fulfilling in a visually<\/span> attractive way the function of\nmodern, ugly barbed wire.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>125 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOld-Fashioned Security<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The picture above shows the bamboo lining the top of the wall, but\notherwise is a fairly<\/span> boring picture. I happened<\/span> to have taken another shot\nfrom the same position but with the focus on the foreground leaves, and\nwhen I combine<\/span> the two with my Photoshop\n“Darken” blend-mode technique<\/a>, the result is a bit<\/span> more\ninteresting (especially when you click through to the larger\nversion)...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nOld Fashioned Security, Blended<\/span>\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\nStandard: 1024×<\/span>768<\/a>  ·  1440×<\/span>1080<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>1200<\/a><\/small>     <\/span>\nWidescreen:  1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a><\/small><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

I'd purposefully gone out with only a prime<\/span> (non-zoom) lens – a\nNikkor<\/span> 85mm f\/1.4 prime – so that the lack of zoom would force me to\nbe more creative in composing my shots. In this case<\/span>, I should<\/span> have stepped\nback further to fill the top more with the foreground leaves, but my desire\nnot to be hit by a bus<\/span> kept me on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n\n

Taking care not to walk in front of a bus,<\/span> I crossed<\/span> the street and\nlooked north...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f\/4, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLeaves, Gate, Shrine<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The camera position here was not too far from the one in the Kyoto City Half Marathon\npost<\/a> except that I was<\/span> at the edge of the street, and a bit<\/span> further\nback.<\/p>\n\n

Besides the obvious main\ngate<\/a> of the shrine, you can see the Shrine's entrance building just\nbelow center (with the green roof) that serves as the backdrop of the photo\nin this Photoshop \/\nnengajou post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Finally, I'll end with a shallow depth-of-field shot that shows only a\ndeliciously<\/span> smooth background, with no funky bokeh<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1600 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nCreamy<\/span>\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n\n\nStandard: 1024×<\/span>768<\/a>  ·  1440×<\/span>1080<\/a>  ·  1600×<\/span>1200<\/a><\/small>     <\/span>\nWidescreen:  1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a><\/small><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

I hope this post helps you feel my pain. What started out as a 5-minute\nround-trip to the store to get bread turns into my being assaulted by\nphotogenic scenes and then becoming indentured to my camera for 15 minutes,\nwhich then leads to being made slave to my keyboard for a few<\/span> hours to\nprepare this post. How can a<\/span> guy get any work done living in a place<\/span> like\nthis?<\/p>\n\n

Oh, and if that weren't enough, later on the sun returned, allowing me\nto re-shoot the neighbor's\ntree<\/a> that I posted<\/span> about yesterday. And on top<\/span> of that, I had occasion<\/span>\nto visit Kyoto Station, which is one of the most beautifully enjoyable\nplaces<\/a> to visit and spend a lazy<\/span> afternoon with the family, and ended up\nwith another<\/i> batch of pictures I want<\/span> to share.<\/p>\n\n

This is ridiculous, and I still have a ton<\/span> of pictures from the Shinto-shrine closing<\/a>, Nijo Castle<\/a>, Osaka Castle Park<\/a>, last\nweek's outing at dusk<\/a>,\nnot to mention that there are still plenty of pictures from Miyajima<\/a> yet to post. Ugh.<\/p>\n\n\n

I hate living here.<\/p>\n\n

\ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I really hate where I live. Not only Kyoto in general, but in particular, the specific area of Kyoto where I live.<\/p>

This morning I walked to the nearby convenience store for some bread, and I was assaulted<\/b> by beautiful scenes of inner-city fall foliage. Not only did they positively scream at me, they punched me in the face, demanding that I photograph them. Geez, all I wanted was some bread, and I get this!? I don't have time for this. What a crappy place to live.<\/p>

Jingu-Michi (\"Shrine Street\", which dead-ends at the front entrance to the Heian Shrine) [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,14,1,2,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634"}],"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=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}