14/06/2010
Rice Plantings, Hydrangeas Blooming
It was late on a Monday afternoon after I had finished teaching, and there was a break in the rain (that time of year is the rainy season around here). So, I decided to go out and take some photos. The first place I headed to was a rice field, which is about 5mins walk away from were I live. The photo at the bottom left is of some rice seedlings, they'd been planted not long before. After that I took a walk around the neighbourhood looking for Hydrangeas. Well, I found a few here and there, but they weren't at their best. As I was about to give up, it was then I found these beautiful hot pink ones.
On a side note these two photos made it in to my
"Through the Year" gallery, where I show four photos for each month. I've been working on that gallery for a good while now the photos used were taken over a period of three years. Actually I had planned to finish that gallery in October this year, so I could produce a calendar from it and get them out well before New Year. However I got too busy and now it's complete on New Years Eve, when I had no intention of it happening that way!
Note 31/12/2011: The build up to Christmas was very full on for us as we had our final presentations for our English classes. Then we had a church Christmas party followed, by our Christmas service. The day after Christmas we went on a two day trip to
Matsuyama and surrounds, which all came together just a few days before Christmas (long story). After the trip was a our wedding anniversary. Finally having a bit of rest over the last couple of days! Wishing all my PBase friends a Happy New Year, I hope 2012 is a good one for you all.
13/06/2010
A rainy day and an impromptu photographic workshop
It was something that came about because of a little miracle: On the 10th of June we were given a bunch of cut Hydrangeas which contained three different colours of flowers. By Sunday morning they were all looking pretty bad. Ritsuko though she could revive the light blue ones so she cut away most of the leaves and put them in icy water. However the blue/purple and red/purple ones she didn't think stood a chance so she through them in the bin (trash can). Well, then we had our church service and by the end of it the light blues were looking better than ever, so we retrieved the others and gave them the same treatment and pretty soon they were good again.
I didn't know how long they'd stay good for so I decided I was going document them that afternoon. Now Emi (one of the young ladies in the church) overheard my plans, and she asked me how to take good flower photos. So, I said why don't you come back after lunch with your camera and I can teach you. After lunch Emi came back with her Panasonic LUMIX G1, and together with a bit of modelling from Linus, Lucy (the cats) and Ritsuko we had a little photographic workshop.
Well, that was the first of four photographic workshops we've had now, each time gaining a little more popularity. I'm planning to BLOG about the others in future...
P.S. The flowers stayed good for another week!
06/06/2010
The Plant's summer growth
The little plant which Bob bought for his sermon illustration really started to grow come the summer of 2010. Seeing it dormant over the winter, come back to life in the spring, and put on a big growth spurt in the summer, was a metaphor for the our journey to Japan. The hard beginning, then the little signs of growth and then better times. Just like with this plant however the autumn (fall) comes and things die out again, so we have to be prepared for that.
The plant also helps me to think about a verse: "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (King James Bible)
Indeed we water, fertilise (feed), and prune (correct), but only God makes the growth. When you have you eyes fixed on God everything becomes a spiritual lesson even a little plant.
Note 29/11/2011: Had a lot of things happen up here recently, both good and bad. With the blessings also come persecutions. Hopefully I'll get time for a few more PBLOGs and updates to other galleries over the next week or so, before the Christmas rush hits me.
01/06/2010
Fushimi Inari Taisha
It's listed in the Lonely Planet Kyoto Guide book as one of the top 5 sites to see in Kyoto (along with the Kyoto Imperial Palace Gardens, Nanzen-ji, Kurama-dera, and the Nishiki Markets). It's also the second easiest to get to from my house of the top five, but for some reason it was the last of the top five for me to visit. Since Ritsuko and had a rare Tuesday afternoon and evening off, so we decided to head to the Shrine in the afternoon and stop at Kyoto station on the way back for a dinner at a nice restaurant near the station.
Given the conditions (it was overcast with a bit of light rain) I was glad I had my D700 and 24 f/2.8 lens, to be able to capture a handheld shot at high iso and wide open aperture. It would have been hard to do with the D80 + Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 under those conditions, given I'd lose two stops of iso and at least a stop of aperture.
It is usual for a Shinto shrine to only have a few gates, because each gate represents passing through to a more holy part of the shrine. However there are thousands of gates all next to each other in the kilometres of maze like paths at Fushimi Inari Taisha. It's not the only shrine like this, there is a similar one near Tokyo.
Note 04/11/2011: Still very busy at the moment, might be a little while before I post another PBLOG, but I will try to update some of the other galleries in a few days.
31/05/2010
Strange things seen at night
It was on the last day of May in 2010, that I went out to Kyoto to do some more testing of my D700 + 24 f/2.8D combo. I went back to
Pontocho (some of the shots of Pontocho from this day will be posted later). After spending a while in Pontocho, I decided to head for the Shinkyogoku arcade were I saw a few truly strange shops. So this is a little collection of them, plus a self portrait. If you're observing carefully, you might even notice I'm wearing a sports parka. Such is the weather in Kyoto that it can be pretty cool even on the last night of Spring. Actually coming from beautiful warm and sunny Perth, the amount of cool days in Kyoto for me, greatly out weights the amount of warm days. Then again the short summer here in Japan feels even more hotter than the summer in Perth. I can go on an on about Kyoto's "hena tenki" (strange weather), that I might make a gallery devoted to it one day!
Note 31/10/2011: Well it took me much longer to get back to Pbase than I expected... But well... I had visitors from Australia, a Sports Carnival, a Tax Return, and heaps of other work on, so I've been as busy as, and it still is pretty busy, but it might quieten down after next week. So I'm not sure when I'll be able to post the next PBLOG... We'll see...
