Tsubaki :::: Camellia

I noticed some camellias flowering, so took a couple of shots. It could have been for the 30 day macro challenge, but I had something else.

First Foray into Infrared Photography

I bought an infrared filter the other day (but not a holder for it), and tried it out today because I remembered to take it with me. The first few shots were way too dark, so it needs a longer exposure. So after school I tried it again, but it does suffer from not being in holder. Of course, the light was getting worse and I wanted to go home, but at least I know I can do it with my camera.

Bland New Day

Just some posters for a free magazine in this prefecture.

Curtain shadows

I'm concentrating on two 20-day challenges, but here's the curtain in the staffroom this afternoon...

Orange

Day Two of my 30 day macro challenge. I'm quite pleased with it. 1/20th of a second handheld in fluorescent lights. Also posted at dpc. ;>þ

Check out the Clogs

It looks like I forgot to post this yesterday.
I went down to the shrine to take photos of the kids being taken there for the 7-5-3 celebration (children of those ages). So, the girl wearing these pokkuri is seven years old. She was quite adept at walking in them, so must have had some training. Her sister wears more modern attire, and that makes a striking contrast. ;>þ

The Judge; The Evidence

A couple more. The cafe has ice atmospheric lighting which is pretty hard for close-up photography. The King sitting on my upturned tea cup (while the tea was stewing in the "pot")



And the evidence, the Jam Tarts the Knave of Hearts allegedly stole (but it was a pack of lies, er, cards, er, something dreamt).



"Sucoon" is cafe-speak for "Scone".

What's on the Menew?

Mock Turtle, that's what. It's a figurine of the Mock Turtle from the "Alice's Tea Party" set made by Kyuudo (note the tears). It was from the first series, which came out before I arrived in Japan for this stint. I have all the figures from the second and third series, though.


There was also a series made by Furuta, but it wasn't as good. They came individually in boxes with a couple of little cookies (Kyuudo) or a sweet (Furuta), but you didn't know which one you were getting.

A cafe we go to sometimes has an eclectic collection of things, including these figurines. The menus are handmade with funny English spellings where there's English...

Higanbana

I thought I'd get in a picture of higanbana - spider lily - before it all fades.

Day One ... Introducing Sharlene

I will occasionally post a photo from my 30-day (non)Pet challenge here... if I haven't taken any other photos on the day ;>þ. The full gallery is Sharlene the Emu. Sharlene came to us earlier in the year after we had watched a program about emus and how they travel thousands of kilometres, knowing where the rainfall will be producing wildflowers (in Western Australia). Mi-chan wanted a book about emus, so I asked my parents to send one. They couldn't find one so they sent Sharlene instead. Boy, did I laugh and laugh when I read the tag, "My name is Sharlene".


Day One: Sharlene the Emu seems to be confused. These eggs are all wrong; they have different shapes and smell funny. Not only that, it's the male emu that incubates the eggs in the nest