Pugger Blogger

First °instance° sighted.

2009-06-01T17:54:00.002+09:00

Today was the first time I've seen someone else use the °xyz° ... one of my Facebook °friends° had commented on one of his °friend's° photos, in a gallery entitled "°me° XD". Here (maybe) glamour photography.

°slow° progress

2009-05-03T17:36:00.003+09:00

Well, I know it will take time, but I haven't seen anyone else °use° this system.
Mind you, I don't use it °very° often myself. I can understand that it's not easy to type, there being no specific ° key. How I get around it is I have it programmed into Shortkeys Lite, so all I have to do is type z and x and I get °.
The other way would be to use Alt+ 0176, like this °.

I wonder if °this° will catch on

2009-03-26T20:37:00.003+09:00

Today, when I was writing in my little notebook, I meant to write double quotation marks. But it turned out to be a little circle... a degree mark, if you will °. So I wondered how typing would look if I used °these° inside of °regular° quotation marks, or °inverted° commas. Of course, I'm using °quite° a few here, more than would be sensibly °advised° by, well, just about °anyone°.

From now on, I shall use them in °forums° and whatnot, and just remember, this is where the °idea° started.

Magic Circles Fireworks

2008-07-21T10:27:00.003+09:00

I've been trying this technique on some of my old fireworks photos.

Well, it's still here.

2008-02-22T22:35:00.003+09:00

Does anyone take any notice of it?

Just to see something new, here's a photo I took last week in the pottery town Mashiko.

It's a pottery lamp with a price tag of ¥16800. very roughly, that's $170.

Shoninzawa in winter

2006-12-18T21:50:00.000+09:00

I came here in August when it was all green, and came up to see what a difference four months makes. Huge.

Microlady

2006-12-10T15:53:00.000+09:00

It's supposed to be a toy, but could be a useful photo prop. Made by Takara and sold by Toizarasu Japan. The Microlady comes in about eight different colours, and has four different bust sizes.

Tonight's Full Moon

2006-12-05T19:28:00.000+09:00

The sky wasn't actually that black, and the moon wasn't that orange, but it's a 100% crop. f5.6, 1/125, ISO 200

The Fly on Yellow

2006-12-04T20:43:00.000+09:00

Feeling good about the K10D... I tried some macro shots today and came across this fly.

New Camera!

2006-12-03T20:30:00.000+09:00

I bought the new Pentax K10D on Thursday, the day it was released here in Japan. I'm still learning how to use it, but I haven't been able to take many pictures yet, due to other commitments. But I think it's great!

Tesselated Balloon

2006-11-28T20:03:00.000+09:00

One of the Balloons from the 2006 World Championships.
So okay, it was from last Saturday. My camera battery power is getting low, so I haven't been taking pictures.
Anyway, in two days I will be able to pick up my new camera.

Infrarock

2006-11-24T20:56:00.000+09:00

I haven't taken any photos for a couple of days, so I edited the colour version of the infrared shot I submitted for the Landscape in Portrait Mode challenge. I made a duplicate layer so I could make the sky a solid blue, otherwise it would have looked banded.

Balloons: modified

2006-11-21T19:14:00.000+09:00

One of the events for the World Balloon Championships was held in my worktown this afternoon. he sky was blue but when I was playing around with Curves it turned like this, so I kept it.

I guess the reason for it being in my town is because it's so flat. I saw them this morning, too, as I was driving in. They were in the neighbouring town, which is hilly.

ARTistic?

2006-11-20T17:55:00.000+09:00

Just a bit of fun for ART Roflmao over at dpchallenge.
Seedless persimmons, nice!

Forky star-burst seeds

2006-11-18T21:38:00.000+09:00

I think this may be in the dandelion family, though it's a fairly tall plant (certainly compared to dandelions!). I have no idea what plant it is, really. Nice, eh.

OOB Cow

2006-11-18T05:38:00.000+09:00

I meant to post this last night after I finished editing it for the Out Of Border look. It's one of cows from Cowparade in Tokyo during the summer.

Bee's Eye

2006-11-16T17:48:00.000+09:00

I bought a really cheap multi-facet filter yesterday, all of ¥100. Actually, it's a toy. Not sure of the technical name for the equivalent filter because I'm too lazy to go look in the catalogue right now. I just shot off three shots, not even particularly worrying about focus. Just a sample with a hoopy hand-drawn frame.

Balloon

2006-11-14T18:20:00.000+09:00

One of the Australian balloons that will be competing in the world championships next week. They were practising and came down in some rice fields near the school I go to on Tuesday afternoons.

Susuki

2006-11-13T19:47:00.000+09:00

Susuki, or pampas grass, growing in a fine clump by the side of the road.
Looking into the sun.
Wonderful stuff to photograph when the seeds are fluffing out like this, but this part of the side of the road was a steep slope leading to a ditch.

In Preparition: Self-Portrait

2006-11-12T19:27:00.000+09:00

I was getting ready to take my picture for the Headwear Challenge on www.dpchallenge.com and took a few test shots to see how the distance, focusing etc was. I had to do it in the morning because the sun was shining in through the window (after yesterday's wet weather). There's a bit of movement blur there, but I like this shot.

Mouse Bread

2006-11-11T21:16:00.000+09:00

Well! I haven't uploaded a photo for a couple of weeks, then log-in to find the new version of Blogger - which is still in Beta - so I'm using it now. It seems all right so far - I can see the photo in the text box as I type, rather than a whole lot of code.
Anyway, this is a azuki bean-filled mouse-shaped bread from the Noah bakery. Very nice!
Now that I've finished the 30 day photo challenges, I should be able to concentrate more on this one. ;>þ

Tsubaki :::: Camellia

2006-10-28T18:56:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-26T20:16:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-22T16:52:00.000+09:00

Just some posters for a free magazine in this prefecture.

Curtain shadows

2006-10-17T19:15:00.000+09:00

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

Orange

2006-10-13T21:05:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-09T19:54:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-07T21:34:00.000+09:00

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?

2006-10-07T19:42:00.000+09:00

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

2006-10-03T21:27:00.000+09:00

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

Day One ... Introducing Sharlene

2006-10-02T17:40:00.000+09:00

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

Crane Fly (as Karen suggests. Thanks, Karen)

2006-09-29T22:35:00.000+09:00

This is the same insect from the other side of the glass. View the full-size picture b clicking on it.

Stabilisers

2006-09-29T22:29:00.000+09:00

This huge bug was hanging on the window. I took some shots from inside as well (may post later). Very long legs. But it has those two protuberances sticking out of its back, which I guess must act as some kind of stabilising mechanism in flight, or they have sensors on the ends of some type.

Mini Pumpkins

2006-09-26T19:59:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, there was a big box in one of the classrooms of small pumpkins, some of which were very photographic. But I didn't take my camera to school yesterday. Today I did, and there was a display in the entrance, so I took some photos there. Some girls were standing around, so I didn't really make the best job of it in the limited time I had...

Do insects feel pain?

2006-09-24T20:46:00.000+09:00

A-chan holds a dragonfly by its wings. It looks like its mouth is open, screaming. (Click on it to see the bigger version, if you've never done that before. ;>þ)

Wooper Looper

2006-09-23T12:57:00.000+09:00

One of the third grade classes has an axolotl in a bottle, er, tank. For some reason, they are called wooper looper (upaa rupaa) in Japanese. There was a huge fad of them in the 1980's. I took this on Thursday.

I wanted to try to get a good shot for a macro, but nothing groundbreakingly brilliant, so will try something else for Abstract Macro.

Sherpet's Leaves

2006-09-22T21:53:00.000+09:00

The vice principal at one of my schools is a very keen gardener and she keeps the entrances to the school chocka-block with plants. So this is a tribute to Queenslander Sherpet, who has made a name for herself with close-ups of variegated leaves.

Oh, and after converting from RAW, I just adjusted the contrast and resized it in Irfanview. ;>þ

Chanting

2006-09-20T21:09:00.000+09:00

This was a Buddhist priest chanting in Ueno yesterday. Maybe I should have put it in the Leading Lines challenge - my entry is doing very poorly at the moment, but I sort of expected that...

Cowparade

2006-09-19T20:35:00.000+09:00

I went to Tokyo today, to a specific palce to take my Free Study for this month. I think I got a pretty good picture. Anyway, I was riding the Yamanote train into Tokyo Station when I saw some cows. I remembered seeing an advertisement in the newspaper about them: Cowparade in Marunouchi. So I went to take some photos of the ones outside the front of the station. There are about 65 of them in the area.

The website is Cowparade, but there's no mention in the archives of the artistic cows I saw in Calgary six years ago(maybe they're a permanent installation, unlike these ones which will be auctioned off).

Seed Hand

2006-09-18T22:28:00.000+09:00

This was my weak attempt for the dpc Seed challenge, probably quite rightly not entered (even if I had done better editing). This was what I was doing the other day when the fly was dying. I actually thought that there would be some similar entries but I didn't see any in a perusal of the challenge thumbnails.

Of course, if I'd had the time to put them all over my face ... that would have been very messy, and my camera's autofocus doesn't work:::::

Bagworm

2006-09-17T21:18:00.000+09:00

Bagworm, Minomushi
While Typhoon No. 13 was playing havoc on Kyushu, it was just cloudy here ... but maybe it will disrupt my plans to go to Tokyo on Tuesday :-(

When we arrived home today, I saw this minomushi, or bagworm, on the wall. Good thing I had my camera handy. Anyway, I guess it's one of the bags that had been built on the nearby (to humans, at least) hedge. The worm used the bags as a shell, and went inside briefly when she became aware of me (as it is the female which stays in the larval form and remains in the bag).

Large Fly, Close-Up

2006-09-15T21:54:00.000+09:00

I was at school today with nothing to do but take photographs, vote on dpc, and do some laminating. The kids were practising for their sports carnival tomorrow. So, in the entrance hall, where it's quite bright, I saw this large fly on the floor - long body, long wings. It just stood there.

I did some Seed shots, then noticed the fly twenty minutes later like this:

Rice Lines

2006-09-14T21:50:00.000+09:00

Leading Lines? I don't know where they lead to, but I thought it was worth stopping in the rain and getting a few shots off. So, obviously, rice harvest has started...

Just Sticking My Head In

2006-09-12T21:32:00.000+09:00

... because I realised I haven't posted in so long. I haven't actually used my camera much this month. I took some photos of a bonsai tree for the Single Tree challenge, but they weren't of Challenge Standard. So here's a photo from the other week when I went to Senjogahara. Lazy, aren't I?

Deer

2006-09-01T06:42:00.000+09:00

This deer was on the other side of the stream near the beginning of the trail when I was going back to my car. It was busy eating so its head was mostly down.

Another shot from Senjogahara. I mean to make a folder of summer photos at dpc - I wonder if I'll ever get around to it.

Burnet

2006-08-31T11:51:00.000+09:00

Oh, I've lapsed again.

On Tuesday, being my last full day of the summer vacation, I went up to Senjogahara and the smaller Odashirogahara for a hike and to take lots of photos. It was much cooler up there, too. I haven't finished editing all the pics I wanted to from the summer, but this is one that pertains to a photo in today's paper - showing waremokou, or burnet (it's in the rose family, apparently). It's a harbinger of autumn, I guess, from the accompanying article. This is one of my shots, with a dragonfly.

The Miner

2006-08-25T21:00:00.000+09:00

I did a touristy thing today seeing that my summer vacation will soon draw to a close. I went to the Ashio Copper Mine, whcih operated from 1610 to 1973. There were 1300 kilometres of tunnels built in that time. Of course, only a very small section is open as a museum. I might write more when I less tired....

Spring Flow

2006-08-22T19:47:00.000+09:00

Another shot from yesterday. Green and cool. I liked how there was a mist floating just above the water, which, by the way, is decidedly delicious.

Spiky Spider

2006-08-21T20:07:00.000+09:00

I went on a photography expedition up a mountain today. I saw several of these very long legged spiders. This one had been with its partner hanging on a rope, possibly mating, but I did get a good shot of that. Notice the spike on its back.

New Fireworks

2006-08-21T07:40:00.000+09:00

Hehe, it's nice t be on vacation.
We went to my work town's fireworks display on Saturday; we got there much later than I had hoped and found a good spot to take photos. I had imagined wandering around the stalls seeing lots of my students, but I only went for a short time to the end of the row of stalls to buy some fried noodles and didn't see anyone I recognised.

Shrimp

2006-08-13T20:31:00.000+09:00

There's a summer exhibition of Okinawan marine life at one of the department stores this month. I feel sorry for some of the fish, being biggish in smallish tanks - like a baby shark (unless it's a very small full-grown one) swimming around with an injury on the tip of it's nose.
This is a variety of shrimp that was less shy than another kind that was extremely ornate.

In The Amazon

2006-08-11T21:06:00.000+09:00

I've certainly been lazy with processing and uploading my photos recently. I went to the river park aquarium yesterday where they're having a special Amazon River exhibit. This is an Amazon Horned Frog.

Up a Ladder

2006-08-07T21:18:00.000+09:00

We went to part of the summer festival yesterday. Each year, this fire brigade group does the traditional ladder-balancing act (some ladies do it aw well). This was just before sunset.

Having a whale of a time

2006-08-04T20:56:00.000+09:00

When I went to Tokyo yesterday, I got some fish head masks for my cousin, who runs a costume hire shop in Melbourne; naturally, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for some self-portraits before sending them on.

I took lots of photos for the Looking Up challenge - it's going to be a tough task choosing which one to submit.

Well, hello there, Kitty!

2006-08-03T21:17:00.000+09:00

I went into Tokyo today for some shopping and photography. Next to Tokyo Station is the Hato Bus terminal I always call it "pigeon bus" because "hato" also means "pigeon" in Japanese). Most of their buses are yellow, but they have a couple covered in Hello Kitty livery...
Kitty Bus
Of course, I couldn't do much about the refelctions on the windscreen.

A Side Temple

2006-07-30T12:04:00.000+09:00

All the photos I posted from my trip to Nikko the other day were of flowers.... so here's one of a little side temple that I had never visited before - maybe it's not usually open.

Fireworks on TV

2006-07-29T20:44:00.000+09:00

The Sumidgawa Fireworks were shown live on TV Tokyo tonight, and here's a photo of one of the entries in the competition.

Lilies

2006-07-28T20:38:00.000+09:00

Some of the superb lilies that were growing in a garden in Nikko. There are quite a few around. It's a yamayuri, or mountain lily.

In Search of Zen

2006-07-27T21:35:00.000+09:00

I went up to Nikko to find a suitable subject for a Zen photo. I'm not sure if I came away with anything simple enough for the dpc CHallenge.

I did get some flower and insect shots as well.

Back to the bloggy

2006-07-26T13:16:00.000+09:00

Being on summer holidays, one just getrs lazy about blogging.
Here are a couple of shots from last Saturday, the festival in Moka. I considered entering the girl on the portable shrine into the Gold challenge, but as I had already made a special detour on my trip to Tokyo, I decided to keep that one in (doing not very well...).
The main reason I went to the Moka Festival was to take photos of the fireworks. 20,000 of them in a show of 90 minutes or so. (It included a laser display which I couldn't see very well). At last I was able to try out the focussing technique, which I had read baout last year.

Bamboo Firefly

2006-07-20T20:53:00.000+09:00

Hmm, been too busy to take photos until today - unofficially, the start of my summer vacation. So I went into Tokyo for some shopping. The train took about an hour longer than usual because the recent rains have affected the track in some places, so it means Go Slow.

Anyway, this bamboo firefly was in a window display in Asakusa.

Lantern-lined Street

2006-07-16T11:41:00.000+09:00

I went down to Oyama yesterday and it rained heavily in the evening, apparently. Fortunately, when I was riding the bike back from the station it wasn't raining. I stopped and took this street scene, thinking it would fit the Lines challenge, but I don't think it would go over so well with the voters - certainly not compared to what the big guns will produce.

Not the Luxury Today

2006-07-14T21:05:00.000+09:00

I thought I was only going have to teach only two lessons today, but my offsider Yui was away sick so I had to take her two classes as well. I had been hoping to do a whole lot of photo editing, which is why I took my computer in to school. In the end, I only got three done, including this bee. Through the viewfinder, I saw it create that droplet.

Ridiculous and Sublime

2006-07-13T19:44:00.000+09:00

One of the sixth grade classes has a travel agency's calendar in the wall. The May picture was of Disneyworld in Florida with Mickey Mouse climbing the fake mountain (Matterhorn?). I thought it was very amusing. The June photo was of Mt Kilimanjaro, and they had cut out Mickey and stuck him in the picture. Very amusing. Last week I noticed that they hadn't changed it over to July yet, but today, there he was, floating over some part of Hawai.i. So I went and got my camera from the air-conditioned staff room and took a photo of it - but, as expected, the lens fogged up because of the change of temperature - hot and muggy classroom.

And then sunset just after 7pm. This is after a rainy day of hot and muggy weather - and FOG. It seems strange to have fog in summer, but there it is. It was especially evident in the morning in the town where I work.

Busy Bumblebee

2006-07-09T13:15:00.000+09:00

I've been as busy as this little big guy, so photographing and posting every day is not really possible. I took him on Thursday. The deputy principle at one of my schools is a very keen gardener, so the entrance is always festooned with flowers.

Them Eyes

2006-07-05T20:58:00.000+09:00

One of the dragonfly photos I took yesterday - a 100% crop; that is, no resizing, just cropped off edges to make the long side near 640pixels. I still haven't had time to do any deep and meaningful editing.

Having seen some of the entries in the Stationary challenge, maybe I shouldn't have entered this or similar....

Somewhat Stunned Dragon

2006-07-04T20:54:00.000+09:00

I went out with my camera at recess time to take some photos of the red flower - hibiscus? - and some kids put this dragonfly on it; it was rather docile after having been handled. Later I got some really good macro shots of an un-kidhandled dragonfly - will post later here and/or on dpc.

JPG Frog

2006-07-02T17:55:00.000+09:00

An outtake for the special Straight from the Camera challenge, a local frog which I put on top of oneof the cars. In the end, I didn't use a frog picture for the challenge...

Poppy

2006-06-30T20:52:00.000+09:00

I was reading one of the dpc threads about contrast masking, so I experimented with this photo, which is recent. Well, levels masking. The background was blurry green, but I made it much darker.

The kids at school went to a concert this morning, so I managed to get there at noon (for lunch, because it only costs 210 yen, and the afternoon lesson). So before that I went ot the city library. I would never have thought that the library would be so busy on a Friday morning - though it's be logical as the other branch is closed on Fridays.

Flower Ant

2006-06-29T21:10:00.000+09:00

Trying out various flowers for the Flower challenge. It's not this one. I've got three or four to choose between - and of course, it's a difficult choice.

The ant was busy and and was moving about quickly.

Maybe This one

2006-06-28T21:02:00.000+09:00

Would have been better for Glass, but then the busy background might have counted against.

Well, I've been too busy/tired to do any photo editing lately. I took some flower shots today - I've got Friday morning off, so I should be able to do some editing then.

A Couple of Insects

2006-06-23T21:06:00.000+09:00

When I arrived at school, I saw this moth on the gate. It's abdomen was arched back; unfortunately I only got three shots in before I accidentally knocked the gate and it flew off.

At the end of school, some kids saw this damselfly - "itotombo" - in the window of the staffroom, between the curtain and the glass. It was caught with a net and one of the boys held it for me to photograph. They're usually very difficult to get close to in wild, so I'm sorry I didn't get better shots of it.

40000

2006-06-22T19:11:00.000+09:00

Well, I've had my car for a few days and it's already gone 40,000 km. Well, that's after me driving it about 120km. And I've been too busy to really concentrate on anything to do with taking photos, so here's a memento of when the car reached this kilometrestone.

A Bit of History (insignificant as it may be)

2006-06-19T20:42:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, my father sent a photo of my nephew with a soccer award. The photo was almost 2Mb, so I said you should make the file size smaller for emails. I also mentioned that I had seen a book in the bookstore about railways in Nikko.

So, today, he sent some photos that are too small, including this one of the cable car from that went up to Lake Chuzenji from Nikko. He rode it in 1949. The railway was closed for good in 1969 after the Iroha Road was completed.

I got my own car yesterday, as well, then I had to take the company car to a Honda garage (though it's a Nissan); and walked most of the way back home until I could get a bus - 6 kilometres, I guess. So now I have a Toyota Vitz Clavia. It's only the second car I've ever bought myself.

30 second gems

2006-06-17T21:28:00.000+09:00

I tried some 30 second exposures using marbles and glass beads. Not terribly interesting, really. In the evening, I thought I might try go see if I could find fireflies ... but it's too early in the season for them, apparently.

Too Busy

2006-06-15T21:30:00.000+09:00

... to do any photography or editing. It's raining. I'm tired. Mi-chan's sick. It's still raining. My new car isn't ready to pick up (apparently, as I haven't received a phone call yet). I might not even get to go to boardgaming on Saturday. :-(

Well, here are a couple of butterflies from June 7.

Butterfly Chaser

2006-06-13T20:52:00.000+09:00

I went to the art gallery for my challenge entry photo (I wanted to get something in, but there will be a lot of entries in that challenge...), and this girl and her father were taking their little dog for a walk in the long grass of the park. She was chasing after butterflies - and later I noticed her shirt.

I used my long lens - it was set at 300mm - and had only this shot to take, so I think it's a pity that her legs are cut off at the knees (in the picture, of course). Will post a shot taken a few minutes later in my dpc portfolio.

Universes within Universes

2006-06-11T12:40:00.000+09:00

Whoops! I haven't used my camera for a couple of days, and the weather is kind of dreary, not at all good for the kind of Shadow challenge picture I want to try. We had a family dinner at the regular expensiveish sushi restaurant last night, in the private room. Outside, there are five or six swallows' nests under the eaves of the restaurant; young swallowettes (swallowings?) are learning to fly.

This is a lily from last Monday, on display at the foot of a bronze Bhoddisatva statue with gold filigree decorations.

Poppies still out

2006-06-08T20:00:00.000+09:00

I've passed by this field of poppies so many times, I finally stopped to take photos - with the 100-300mm zoom, and I'm quite pleased with the result. I used a very fast shutter speed to allay the camera shake effects, which of course pushed up the ISO.

A grey egret or heron or whatever it is

2006-06-07T20:47:00.000+09:00

Using my 100-300mm zoom lens; it's not the sharpest lens, but it was cheap. :>)
This bird was with others in the rice paddy, but the others flew off. He did too, eventually...

Schoolyard gatherings

2006-06-06T18:55:00.000+09:00

SontokuSo here's one of the statues of Kinjiro Ninomiya, also known as Sontoku, which I mentioned on May 27 in "In the company of Naked Men and Children". Often depicted reading a book while carrying a bundle of firewood - remember to be diligent, frugal and virtuous.

While I was taking a photo for my kana project, some preschool teachers from the neighbouring daycare centre came in pushing these prams for the little itty-bitty kiddies to have a look at the school chickens. There were four prams all up. And notice how she has another kids strapped to her back!

Streetlight

2006-06-05T19:35:00.000+09:00

I noticed this streetlight during a second grade lesson we had in the craft room, so I went back with my camera during the break. I hadn't taken any pictures during the weekend ;-)

I also transferred my humorous website to Vert's Page here, with my Japanese webhost.

This Afternoon's Snake

2006-06-02T18:30:00.000+09:00

As I was leaving school, a snake was discovered outside the teachers' entrance, so naturally I got my camera out. I only got two shots as I thought that was enough. The boys were excited but were told to go away. Of course, it's harmless, and armless.

Fly on Rose

2006-06-01T20:56:00.000+09:00

Yes, it's a fly on a rose.
It was quite warm today, and not a little breezy in the afternoon; summer's definitely on its way.

Take Two: Yellow

2006-05-30T19:28:00.000+09:00

I read about the special dpchallenge, so after leaving school I stopped off at the yellow bridge because the sky was dramatic .... however, it wasn't dramatic in theright place exactly.

The sky was dramatically heavy in other places - it was raining heavily when I got to the East Library, and there were lots of lightning strikes around the prefecture, according to the weather report on TV.

I finally got my own library card. I borrowed a couple of Popular Photography magazines.

Me by Mi

2006-05-29T20:06:00.000+09:00

I didn't get around to posting yesterday, but here's a photo taken by Michan. She approached my with an eyebrow pencil and drew thick eyebrows on my eyebrows. Then insisted on taking a photo. She tried with her mobile phone but the result wasn't good. So I said use my camera. Lighting wasn't good (ISO 1600), and because my camera 's autofocus doesn't work, the focus is slightly off - so what better way of hiding that than using various editing effects, such as Mosaic Tiles.

And then she asked me to do an "interesting face". It's a gookie, like Harpo Marx used to do (though my eyes aren't crossed in the photo...). (A bit of high pass filter this time)

In the company of Naked Men and Children

2006-05-27T20:03:00.000+09:00

We went to the Romantic Village onsen today; it's not very far away and we've been to Romantic Village before, but not the onsen. It was raining slightly but it was nice sitting in the outdoor hotpool. There was at least one girl in the men's section; she must have been 3rd or 4th grade. Apparently, there was a boy in the women's section too.

The pine cone figure was in one of the rest rooms; it represents some famous character who was known to study, study, study, reading his books while walking, carrying a bundle of firewood. Most elementary schools have a statue of him somewhere.

Indoor Cyclists

2006-05-26T21:33:00.000+09:00

I went into the gym (of the new school) to try out some architectural photos, and a teacher was in there with four students teaching them road rules. There were roads marked out in tape. It just seemed strange to see bicycles being ridden in a gym...

Poppies are Out

2006-05-24T20:38:00.000+09:00

See?

A wee bit breezy for nice sharp macros, though. Oh, maybe I should have tried a fater shutter speed...

Cherry Dropping

2006-05-23T19:24:00.000+09:00

There's one of eleven cherry trees along the school fence that actually produces cherries. I've mentioned before that most cherry trees are sterile. After the emergency evacuation practice, the teacher's aide shook the tree's boughs for the cherries to drop.
I think they're second graders; I don't know them so well.

Kangaroo Paw da Vinci

2006-05-22T19:27:00.000+09:00

So, I bought this kangaroo paw last week - it was only 200 yen, and finally got around to taking a photo. Boring enough for you?

The third graders at school were on an excursion today, so I was allowed to leave after third period; I went to the cinema complex to see The Da Vinci Code. I hadn't realised it was Men's Day there, so I got in at the discount price ;-) The film is pretty good; I mean, I don't think it's as bad as the critics have been making it out to be. And I don't know why people say I look like Jean Reno. He has a large hooked nose, for a start, and brown eyes....

Asakusa Sanja Matsuri

2006-05-21T10:33:00.000+09:00

I'd been looking forward to going to the famous Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa. It's one of Tokyo's Big Three festivals. I've been three times - but the last time was 15 years ago. However, it was raining here in the morning and Mi-chan didn't feel well, so I stayed home. A small bit I saw of it on the TV news showed it was sunny in Tokyo - but hot, and this sort of weather brought thunderstorms and heavy rain to that area in the afternoon.

So, I'll have to wait until next year and you have to put up with this gourd balloon that's on display at one of my schools. It's surprisingly close to the floor.

In the Classroom

2006-05-19T21:44:00.000+09:00

I don't think I've had any people in my posts for a while; here's a first grade class teacher showing the kids how to draw figures using Japanese writing.

Well, not the standing figure, but the two faces use hiragana and number kanji. I'm not sure about the whale, either, but the were singing a song while drawing it.

Cattle Egret

2006-05-17T20:12:00.000+09:00

It seems to be a cattle egret, Bubulcus ibis. they're usually all white but get the coloured feathers in breeding season/spring. I saw the group of them a few weeks ago, but then didn't see them - I thought they must have migrated on. But there they were today, in rice paddies on the other side of the road where I don't usually look. I thought it was worth stopping and trying to get a few photos of them - even though I knew they'd not stick around if I approached. But I was lucky, as this fellow had just caught a frog - I got two shots before he flew off. Of course, it's a crop of a much larger photo. It was raining very sparsely st the time.

Fly-by-Day

2006-05-16T20:35:00.000+09:00

This fellow was down on the creek, hanging on the grass stalk. When I first saw it, I thought it was an immature dragonfly, perhaps just emerged, because it didn't move at all. But it really is some kind of kagerou, of which there are 10 species in Japan, with 109 different kinds. It's a dayfly or ephemera. It has two long thin tails, and may live only 2 or 3 days as an adult, or even only half a day.

Life by the Creek

2006-05-14T19:48:00.000+09:00

I went out for a walk in the afternoon, actually hoping to find a frog to put on my lanscap for the lenscap challenge. I didn't find any frogs, but there were some dragonflies and damselflies down by the creek. I guess they were taking advantage of the fine weather, because it's been quite dull lately.

I was quite surprised that I could get so close to these guys as they the type who are usually quite camera-shy. The bottom one is certainly an Ookawa tombo ("big river damselfly") Mnais nawai, the male. I'm pretty sure the top one is the female of the species.

Bee on the landing Strip

2006-05-12T19:04:00.000+09:00

I stopped to take some photos of the irises next to a rice paddy. However, it was a bit breezy for any good macro work, but I got a couple of pics of bees. The irises (this kind, at least) really make the bees work for their pollen; they have to enter and go down the chute (the yellow stripes) to get to the pollen. When they've finished, they have to go backwards to get out.
I changed to the white balance for some of the shots - this was "Shadow" - but I didn't change it in the RAW editor to a more natural colour green in the background. (Purple seems ot be a hard colour for my camera to deal with .;;;)

Madness

2006-05-10T19:16:00.000+09:00

In a fit of m***ess, I decided to change the Template of this blog. Of course, that means losing any formatting such as that for the the <--- dpc links, now at left. Oh, well, 'tis done now.

Just to show you how boring things are this week, here's a picture of a yellow flowering plant that I presume is related to the lettuce or cabbage family; the leaves certainly look cabbagey. I should find out what it's called some day, then promptly forget what it is. I'd been trying for a few days to think what dogwood is called in Japanese (having posted a picture a while ago of its pink flowers) (and, yes, I could have looked back), but I didn't remember it until I was perusing the Japanese newspaper this morning, which mentioned the Hanamizu Festival somewhere.

123465

2006-05-08T21:07:00.000+09:00

I haven't done much photo editing in the last couple of days, so here's another view of the Kirifuri Falls - a wide angle shot, obviously.

I missed seeing my car's odometer turn over to 123456 km this morning, but I saw it at 123465 km. It's back to the commute after Golden Week, where it takes 10 or 15 minutes to get onto the bridge... :-(

Children's Day

2006-05-05T21:18:00.000+09:00

It being Children's Day, what better way to spend it than to go to the coin laundry and wash your sneakers in the sneaker-washing washing machine.

Actually, we did spend time with Mi-chan's nieces.