To catch a snowflake

Finally! After a very abnormally warm September AND October we finally get a little snow!

I wanted to catch a single snowflake falling with my Canon D50. I had to have the shutter at 1/500 to actually CATCH the snowflakes... but it was so dark that I had to set the ISO for 3600 (!)

But I did catch a single snowflake falling on the railing...

The Sister

So, my little sis came to Japan to visit over the break. We went EVERYWHERE... Yokohama, Mt. Fuji, Saw Kabuki, Visited Nikko, all kinds of things... and I got some pictures! So... here's a slide show for you poor souls... (This is like having everyone over for the slide show that you can't escape from! :D)

Let's start with more pictures to add to my "Who Watches the Watcher" collection of pictures of people taking pictures: G at Lake Sai taking a picture of Mt. Fuji:

I really don't think my Sis knows how to NOT look cool...

Maia at Lake Sai (WWtW Picture number 4,400 or whatever... I like this shot, though!)



Fuji at Lake Sai... (note the reflection! :D)

There was this incredible field where some very interesting sculptures were being made by people who would turn the sprinklers on at night and spray the trees and wood constructs. By morning the entire place was a ice wonderland... Icicles everywhere! I love Ice and Sun.

Afer Yokohama (Where I didn't bring my camera) and Fuji we went to Nikko in the mountains.

There was this interesting shot of money placed in a lantern at a temple in Nikko... I notice a lot of 1 yen coins... can't blame them... they are a scourge...My sis at the gardens in Nikko... I don't know why this picture didn't turn out like I wanted it to... I guess I'm just better at candids than posed...We went to Laku Chuuzenji in Nikko and the view from the hotel was spectacular... I was so inspired, I picked up the Slate and using ArtRage2, painted the scene from the window: welcome to the 21st century artist...Yeah... we didn't go to the Psycho bat cave... It seemed like it would be a little creepy... :)

I figured people would want to see some pictures... since my Japan journey is almost at an end... Anyway, enjoy! :D

Fuji through my lens

Everyone has their own take on Mt. Fuji. Mine is... well... very me. :)

Taken at Moriya Station (On the Tsukuba Express Line tracks) just after sunset.

---Me.

Hanami

So, I am swamped, I admit it... On April 20th I test for Shodan (No, really), and Sensei has me coming to practice 4 times a week... On top of that, I'm doing all the other things that I have been doing for a long time. Also, we went to Hiroshima (Which I'm STILL composing a blog post about that one...)...

But since the Hiroshima blog post isn't done yet (Lots to talk about), I'll show you my Hanami pictures.

See, the Cherry Blossoms are blooming here, and they are stunning... so Blain and I went on yet another Photo Safari... this time to the wilds of Ueno park (Which has a famous Cherry Tree... erm... stand? Forest? whatever, famous trees... :D)

So... until I get my Hiroshima post up, here's some Sakura (Cherry blossoms):

As the wind picked up, the blossoms started to fall like snow:

Of course, the blossoms only kept me entertained for a few moments, then I started to see all the people around me... and... well... Here's mom showing the little one the picture she just took:

I love this one: "Me, in Ueno park... taken by... erm... me.":

There is something surreal about me taking a picture of a person taking a picture of themselves in Ueno park...

Japan's Finest were in force in Ueno park... this is particularly entertaining since I think the crime rate in Ueno park is the worst in Tokyo... one robbery per three months or something like that... and certainly not during Hanami:

RIGHT! I was taking photos of the Sakura! Here we go:

Sakura festival Lanterns... man these are beautiful:

Sometimes you just have that once-in-a-lifetime-shot... this was definitely one of them:

I should make product pictures... It was Hanami, everyone was taking pictures of the flowers... Don't get me wrong, the flowers were cool... but the people were cooler... so I took pictures of the people taking pictures of the flowers. I love this shot:

I have totally had days like this (Note the flash is out on her camera... in broad daylight... I think she's having more trouble than she thinks...):

What was I here for? OH Right! Sakura!:

When I got to the dojo after this, I told them that I had gone to Ueno park for Hanami (Hanami, by the way is "Flower Viewing". It's so popular in Japan that they have a special word for this pasttime), the entire dojo claped and OOOoooooo'ed and Sensei said: "Now you are a real Japanese, you have done Hanami".

I didn't have the heart to say I was watching the watchers almost as much as I was watching the flowers...

---Hana-Me

The Large Kyudo Meeting (Honest, that's the name)

So I am at practice one night and I say to Sensei: "Sensei, sometime I want to take pictures of you."

"Okay!" he says in reply, "On January 6, I have to do a presentation, please take pictures then."

Cool. I say...

When, where, how long? These things are completely unimportant, this is martial arts, I will go wherever, whenever, for however long...

So, Saturday rolls around and I go to practice.

"Sensei... Um... where am I going tomorrow?"

Sensei starts laughing, "You don't have any idea, do you?" He says.

I nod...

"Okay, You will be with Mr Center (The other newbie... though he's been with the Dojo for about a year and a half longer than I), Just follow him."

"Hey Guy!" Mr Center says, he and I are great friends, actually, and I'm glad to be assigned to him, "Okay, I'll be at your place at 6:50."

"6:50..." I say, feeling the cold leetch into my bones, my last few days of vacation and I'm spending them getting up at 6... "Okay, I'll be there!"

So Sunday morning comes along and I'm up before false dawn... I shower, prep all the cameras (I'm using both the Video and my SLR for this), and I go out to get the ice off of the car.

Now, I should mention, I'm no stranger to ice, but this area has the approximate climate of Houston, and so though I can get ice off of my car easily... it took me some time to get a good ice scraper... because these people believe that there is no ice here...

Anyway while waiting for Mr Center, I look at a little printout that Mr Grave (Another of my favorite people) gave me. It shows Highway 50... a highway I'm simply not familiar with... So I pull out my driving map.

It's in a city I've never been to before... And it's an hour North... well, at least Mr. Center is leading the way...

Mr. Center shows up on time (And apologises for being late... It's a Japanese thing), and we are on our way, Mr. Center in his White plate car (Big engine) leaving my yellow plate (Small Engine) car in the dust. I struggle to keep up with him... and I manage it, barely...

We make it to Far Out There City and we go to the dojo...

It turns out to be the Greater Western State Prefectural Dojo Competiton. And there are kids from schools all over the area there...

I set up my camera, and Sensei goes onto the stage and opens the ceremonies... It turns out he is the ranking master, so he is the head judge. (This means I don't actually get instructions from him...Luckily I guessed correctly and he was happy with my results).

After the opening ceremonies, Sensei does a lovely presentation for all gathered. Kyudo is such a beautiful martial art, full of ceremony and precise actions. Sensei makes it look simple.

After the ceremonies, the first of the High school kids gets to shoot on the target... And suddenly I recognize one of the kids up there...

It's Bow-chan! She is here with her schools' Kyudo team! She is wearing a strange purple headband... which I soon learn means she is a first year (Because she is)... with her is another of my girls from last year... who I even remember her name (An amazing accomplishment since all kids wear nametags... but they are written in Kanji, so I have to work extra hard to remember anyone's name). I say hello to my ex-student, who bows to me (That's why I remembered her, she was very, very polite... and as a third year, that was a rather rare trait). She talks to her pals, her other students (She was also wearing one of those "First year" headbands), explaining that I was her teacher last year, and she goes off...

It should be noted at this time that I really REALLY stand out... I'm the only foreigner... I'm not kidding, I am the sole foreigner here. Of the probably 500 people here, I'm the only one with blue eyes... I am a sensation, everyone wants to know who I am... Sensei makes a point of asking how I am every 10 minutes (I still have that stupid cold, week four for those counting... but Maia brought me NyQuil... It's half gone, but I am much better now. I love my Maia.) and my dojo-mates are all into explaining in detail all about me...

Now I have Bow chan to talk to. She chats only a little, because she is a first year, and that means she is in charge of stringing everyone's bow, wrapping everyone's bow, and taking care of the arrows... and they are snapping at her when she so much as looks out of line... but she did manage to chat with me twice... I was so happy. She talked to me in English... I am a proud teacher.

I took 300 pictures at this meeting, and I noticed the early ones were not so good... I seemed to have "Warmed up" as time went on... literally and figuratively... it was pretty cold that morning.

I am having a real time with focus. I turned off the auto-focus a long time ago because it was bothering me (It had trouble guessing what it was that I was focusing on so it would just bounce all over the place). But I have trouble seeing whether it's clear in my viewfinder... I have a focus light in my camera, but I don't always see it (Because of the angle)... so the early shots are just slightly out of focus...

I haven't really sorted the pictures yet, but I will. When I do, I have some pictures to send to Bow-Chan.

5 months until my Sho-dan test.

---Me.