Catching Up
I've been trying to figure out how I've fallen so far behind so quickly. It seems that every time I post, I've gotten further behind, not less. Last week blogger photo uploads went out for a few days, and when it finally came back up two days ago, I realized I have material for six or seven blog posts waiting to get online. I was trying to figure out why that is, and I realized it's not because I'm not posting, it's because I've been doing so much. The oldest photos, the ones I am posting today - are a couple weeks old. I've been doing more, and I've finally reached the point where I feel comfortable taking pictures anytime. I bring my camera everywhere, but now instead of leaving it in my bag, I keep it ready at my desk. If someone sticks their head into the teacher's room and says "Ben-sensei, come here" I grab my camera and go. The students are used to me with the camera, the teachers have no problem with it (mostly because when I take pictures, I always put them on a school computer for them to use on their homepages or newsletters.) Either way, I've been doing a lot, and taking a lot of pictures. I am now committing to getting them all up soon. I don't have any exciting plans this week, and with any luck I'll be able to write and post three updates this week, after this one. Let's see if I can do Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Good luck to me.
When we last left off with our bold adventurer, he had returned after a semi-successful road trip to Shikoku, and it was the middle of the Golden Week vacation. Not wanting to sit around for the rest of the vacation, Ben and Liz agreed to meet up in Hiroshima City the next day and take a trip to Miyajima, the island of the famous red gate in the water. You'll recognize it when you see it.
We actually ended up spending a chunk of time in Hiroshima (It's a lovely city.) We got lunch, and then Liz declared that she was ready to buy a new digital camera (possibly because I had given her no end of grief about her tiny old point and shoot in the 30-odd hours we had just spent in a tiny car.) We went to Deo Deo and browsed. After much hand-wringing and perusing of brochures in Japanese, Liz bought a new Digital SLR. Excellent choice, Liz. By about 2:30 or 3:00, we finally got on the streetcar to Miyajima. About an hour later, we got on the ferry to the island.
So yeah, Miyajima - it's got a bunch of temples, a Kabuki theater, and the famous Torii in the water. What I didn't really know about was the deer. Miyajima has a large population of docile deer that walk the streets and sights along with the tourists. It's decidedly strange, these big animals just strolling around like everyone else.
Miyajima appears to have a giant temple - I wouldn't know, we didn't actually make it there.
...because I was keeping my eyes on the gate. It's famous, often photographed, used in all manner of publications, but it still manages to impress. It's a beautiful graceful thing, sitting out in the water.
There's a temple complex on the water, the whole thing is on stilts and sits over the water at high tide. We didn't go at high tide, but it must be really beautiful.
The Kabuki theater.
The advantage of the semi-low tide is that you can walk out to the water and stand close to the gate. Also, you can look through the sand for treasure. I think this is possibly the most picked-over beach I have ever seen. The odds of finding treasure are very slim.
I have about a hundred more pictures of the gate, but I'll spare you. My absurd travel needs (street car to the bus, bus to the ferry, ferry to the island, scooter to my house, bicycle to volleyball practice) meant we would be wise to start heading back around 4:30 so I could get home by 7:00. We decided to play the odds and left the beach at 5:00.
The street going back was kind of wonderful. Big folding paper awnings are stretched across the top of the street, leaving a sort of diffuse light on the old shops that line the street.
Miyajima must be famous for oysters, because in more than one place, an old lady would sell you oysters freshly charcoal grilled. Yum. (This picture is for you, Fred.)
Back on the streetcar, I was tired. I was not the only one.
That's the corner of Liz's new camera on the right.
Earlier in the day, while Liz had been camera shopping, I was looking at lenses. I tried out a 50mm f/1.4 lens, and I was thinking about it all day. Time was tight, but before I caught the bus home I ran to Deo Deo and bought it. It's fast and sharp and I'm really happy with it. It has a tiny little depth of field, which makes it tough to shoot with, but great for portraits. Here are three of the first photos I took with it.
What? I didn't say portraits of people.
This was going to be the end of the blog update, but in the interests of catching up, I'm bringing in the next update right here.
Chapter 2: In which Mori sets up a skate competition, and there is much rejoicing.
On the last day of Golden Week, there was an Osakikamijima skate contest. Mori had been telling me about it for a long time, and while it was nearly cancelled by rain, good fortune prevailed, and we had a great time. There isn't a terrific amount to say, and I think the pictures speak for themselves pretty well.
Setting up.
Mori.
Two of my students, and their dad, who skates with them. It's awesome, they love skateboarding and he has taken it up so he can do it with them. They skate down by Mori's boat.
Any skate competition has mishaps, more so when all the skaters are really really nervous because their girlfriends and parents are there.
Do you see that woman under his right foot? She is grinning ear to ear.
Takenobu. Ow.
When things work, it looks good.
Mori.
And again - Mori. That skateboard is upside down!
Takenobu
The devoted fans.
The youngest fan - actually the youngest fan was with her mom. But this is her ride.
Voting for a winner after the competition.
Two photos of Akira, the annoucer/DJ/competitior.
The winner (left), his prize (left top), and the donor of the prize (right). Thumbs up (bottom right).
The crew. A long long time ago, I was looking at the family photo album of a photographer I know. In that album there was a group picture where everyone in the group looked good. I remember thinking that I had no idea how that was possible, because everyone knows that when you take a group picture, someone looks stupid. I think I might have just cracked it. Thank you, new lens.
On the way home, I stopped three or four times to take pictures of the thick fog that was rolling in across the water. At the time I had never seen anything like it before, I didn't realize we were simply at the beginning of the foggy season here. There's been a lot of really spectacular fog recently, stay tuned and you'll see more.
That guy on his boat - I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect.
See you Monday.
When we last left off with our bold adventurer, he had returned after a semi-successful road trip to Shikoku, and it was the middle of the Golden Week vacation. Not wanting to sit around for the rest of the vacation, Ben and Liz agreed to meet up in Hiroshima City the next day and take a trip to Miyajima, the island of the famous red gate in the water. You'll recognize it when you see it.
We actually ended up spending a chunk of time in Hiroshima (It's a lovely city.) We got lunch, and then Liz declared that she was ready to buy a new digital camera (possibly because I had given her no end of grief about her tiny old point and shoot in the 30-odd hours we had just spent in a tiny car.) We went to Deo Deo and browsed. After much hand-wringing and perusing of brochures in Japanese, Liz bought a new Digital SLR. Excellent choice, Liz. By about 2:30 or 3:00, we finally got on the streetcar to Miyajima. About an hour later, we got on the ferry to the island.
So yeah, Miyajima - it's got a bunch of temples, a Kabuki theater, and the famous Torii in the water. What I didn't really know about was the deer. Miyajima has a large population of docile deer that walk the streets and sights along with the tourists. It's decidedly strange, these big animals just strolling around like everyone else.
Miyajima appears to have a giant temple - I wouldn't know, we didn't actually make it there.
...because I was keeping my eyes on the gate. It's famous, often photographed, used in all manner of publications, but it still manages to impress. It's a beautiful graceful thing, sitting out in the water.
There's a temple complex on the water, the whole thing is on stilts and sits over the water at high tide. We didn't go at high tide, but it must be really beautiful.
The Kabuki theater.
The advantage of the semi-low tide is that you can walk out to the water and stand close to the gate. Also, you can look through the sand for treasure. I think this is possibly the most picked-over beach I have ever seen. The odds of finding treasure are very slim.
I have about a hundred more pictures of the gate, but I'll spare you. My absurd travel needs (street car to the bus, bus to the ferry, ferry to the island, scooter to my house, bicycle to volleyball practice) meant we would be wise to start heading back around 4:30 so I could get home by 7:00. We decided to play the odds and left the beach at 5:00.
The street going back was kind of wonderful. Big folding paper awnings are stretched across the top of the street, leaving a sort of diffuse light on the old shops that line the street.
Miyajima must be famous for oysters, because in more than one place, an old lady would sell you oysters freshly charcoal grilled. Yum. (This picture is for you, Fred.)
Back on the streetcar, I was tired. I was not the only one.
That's the corner of Liz's new camera on the right.
Earlier in the day, while Liz had been camera shopping, I was looking at lenses. I tried out a 50mm f/1.4 lens, and I was thinking about it all day. Time was tight, but before I caught the bus home I ran to Deo Deo and bought it. It's fast and sharp and I'm really happy with it. It has a tiny little depth of field, which makes it tough to shoot with, but great for portraits. Here are three of the first photos I took with it.
What? I didn't say portraits of people.
This was going to be the end of the blog update, but in the interests of catching up, I'm bringing in the next update right here.
Chapter 2: In which Mori sets up a skate competition, and there is much rejoicing.
On the last day of Golden Week, there was an Osakikamijima skate contest. Mori had been telling me about it for a long time, and while it was nearly cancelled by rain, good fortune prevailed, and we had a great time. There isn't a terrific amount to say, and I think the pictures speak for themselves pretty well.
Setting up.
Mori.
Two of my students, and their dad, who skates with them. It's awesome, they love skateboarding and he has taken it up so he can do it with them. They skate down by Mori's boat.
Any skate competition has mishaps, more so when all the skaters are really really nervous because their girlfriends and parents are there.
Do you see that woman under his right foot? She is grinning ear to ear.
Takenobu. Ow.
When things work, it looks good.
Mori.
And again - Mori. That skateboard is upside down!
Takenobu
The devoted fans.
The youngest fan - actually the youngest fan was with her mom. But this is her ride.
Voting for a winner after the competition.
Two photos of Akira, the annoucer/DJ/competitior.
The winner (left), his prize (left top), and the donor of the prize (right). Thumbs up (bottom right).
The crew. A long long time ago, I was looking at the family photo album of a photographer I know. In that album there was a group picture where everyone in the group looked good. I remember thinking that I had no idea how that was possible, because everyone knows that when you take a group picture, someone looks stupid. I think I might have just cracked it. Thank you, new lens.
On the way home, I stopped three or four times to take pictures of the thick fog that was rolling in across the water. At the time I had never seen anything like it before, I didn't realize we were simply at the beginning of the foggy season here. There's been a lot of really spectacular fog recently, stay tuned and you'll see more.
That guy on his boat - I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect.
See you Monday.
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on Sunday, May 21, 2006 at 4:52 PM.
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