Jeffrey E.F. Friedl's Blog, page 49

Doh! Got to the Airport a Day Early to Find my Flight Delayed Four Days.

Well, that's a bummer. The forecast was for some bad weather overnight,
so I thought I'd be smart and get a hotel near the airport to avoid having
to drive up tomorrow for a 2PM flight out of Cleveland, but as soon as I
got into my room at the hotel and checked tomorrow's flight, I found out
that my flight for tomorrow (Monday) was canceled and reschedule for
Thursday(!), but that's only the domestic part... my flight back to Japan
seems to have disappeared.

My mom had just dropped me off, but I didn't have a way to contact her
to come back and bring me back home, so I'm stuck here until after the
weather clears. At least I've got a nice hotel to pass the time in. It's forecast to be an actual -15°F / -26°C
tomorrow, with a windchill of -40°F (which is also -40°C).

I tried calling the airline (United Airlines), but they're
understandably overloaded, and the phone system won't even let you wait on
hold. I took the shuttle to the airport thinking I'd talk to someone there,
but a chat with a stranded traveler in the shuttle convinced me not to
bother, so I came back to the hotel.

I told the front desk that if they get full and someone's desperate
enough to want to share a room, the extra bed in my room is open. I hope no
one needs it.

Update later in the evening

Watching the radar, the line of approaching snow actually
started to recede a bit, delaying the worst of the problems, so my mom came
to pick me up and now I'm at my folks' place again. I don't know when I'll
get out, but it's sure a lot more relaxing to be here! I still haven't been
able to contact United Airlines, but saw on their web site that they'll
wave all fees and any fare increases for adjusted schedules, which is very nice.
I'll see how things look tomorrow and go from there.

Update the next morning

Cleveland has so far been spared the
worst of the snow, and some flights are getting out. If one believes
United's web site (which one should not necessarily
do), half the flights from Cleveland to Chicago have long waitlists, and half have no waitlist. Seems unlikely.

I did find my transpacific return to Kyoto in United's online system...
according to my current reservation as shown on United.com, they have me
flying into Milwaukee on Thursday and then leaving for Japan, uh, the day
before. Not sure how that's supposed to work.

The whole point of stopping by Milwaukee on the way home is to see my
dear friend and best man at my wedding Ram Kulkarni, so I've been
trying to find a way to get to Milwaukee or Chicago today, but United.com's
system says that I have to actually talk to an agent to update my
reservation, and when I call, after playing phone-menu hide-and-seek for a
minute or so I'm so far invariably met with “I'd like to transfer you
to an agent who can assist you, but unfortunately, due to high call
volumes, all our agents are currently busy. Please call us back at a later
time. Goodbye.” (Click the link to hear to audio. The intonation of
the final “goodbye” is somehow teasing, as if daring me to waste
more time.)

Bunch of Goldfinches, Google “Auto Awesome” Version

Bunch of Goldfinches

Google “Auto Awesome” Version

The other day I posted some Goldfinch photos
that I took on my folks' back deck. I included that post's lead photo on my
Google Plus “Select Blog Photos 2014” photo album,
where I put a photo or two from most of my blog posts.

Google Plus has an “Auto Awesome” feature that can automatically do things to copies of your photos if you opt in, and in this case it decided to add
the snowfall to a copy of the goldfinch photo. It's a simple snowfall animation that repeats every 4/5th of a second. Simple but nice.

They've since done it to other photos, but it gets old quickly, so I'll just share this one.

FWIW, I also have “Select Blog Photos” albums for 2013
and 2012.
Each is sort of a quick photogenic snapshot of my blog for the year.

Anthony Catching Air on a Snow Sled

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/8000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Air!

Anthony at Grandma and Grandpa's, Jan 2013

The pictures of snow
play I posted earlier today of my brother and his family reminded me
that there's much from last year's trip here to
Ohio that I still have not posted. At the time I'd done one Snow Play
post, so I guess today is a followup.

These pictures of Anthony (age 10 at the time) sledding in the back yard are from exactly one year ago today.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/6400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Building a Ramp

with tender love and care




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/8, ISO 100 —
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On Approach




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/8, ISO 110 —
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Liftoff!

a split second before I jump out of the way




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/8, ISO 100 —
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Crash Landing

(he crashes on purpose because that's more fun than not crashing)




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/8, ISO 100 —
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All Part of the Fun

He gained confidence as time went... here's a shot from 10 minutes later; he seems much more composed....

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/8000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Smooth Expert




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/6400 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Proud Pilot

A Day Of Snow Play for Cousin Felicity

Note: this article may not appear properly in news readers.

This article contains interactive aspects that are likely removed by most news readers. Please see this particular article directly on Jeffrey's blog for full functionality.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56mm — 1/60 sec, f/3.5, ISO 2800 —
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My Mom and her Granddaughter Felicity

my brother Alan's girl

Here are some more snow-play photos from the other day's “Fun Day of Snow
Play, Snowflake Photography, and Birds”, as my brother Alan and his
family are also visiting my folks here in Ohio.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 —
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Bundled Up

in style!

Felicity is Anthony's cousin, and first made an appearance on my blog at about the same time she
made an appearance in life, and then
here,
here,
here, and
here (probably among others).

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 62mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 —
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One-Horse-Power Engine




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 —
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Whiteout(ish)




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 36mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 250 —
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3... 2.... 1...

I grabbed Mom for a photo as she was heading out somewhere...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 66mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 —
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Felicity, Alan, Mom, Natalie




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 —
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Totem Pole




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 160 —
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Zoomin'




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
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Pure Fun

Here's an interactive sequence of Alan diving onto the sled. The dive wasn't as epic as some that came later (such as the one leading this post),
but the sequence here is nice, I think, so I'm showing this one.

Sweep the mouse side to side over the photo to seen the sequence...

div#dfyWGCmFcmFctcA img { width:690px; height:459px; visibility:hidden; position:absolute; top:0; left:0; border: solid 10px #311}
















Animatable — slowly sweep mouse from side to side to view sequence
写真の上をマウスで左右にゆっくり動かすといろいろな影響を見えます。

1)return true;var x=Math.floor((e.clientX||e.pageX)/BW);if(X==0)X=x;else if(x!=X){var which=x>X?i+(x-X):i-(X-x);if(which>=I.length)which=I.length==2?0:I.length-1;else if(which




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
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Zoomin'




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
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Zoom'd

For some reason, that blue sled didn't quite make it intact to the end of the day.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
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Mischief Lurking

behind that pretty façade




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
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Moments Before Impact

(she's a sweet and intelligent girl, so kept her aim well clear of the camera)




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 —
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Misfire

snowball slips right out of the fat mitten




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 —
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Self-Learning Artificial Intelligence

adjusts to using two mittens to launch snowball

No one was immune, not even Mommy...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 —
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“Yeah, I just Totally Got You With a Snowball”

A big pile of gravel covered with snow looked to be a fun start to launch the sled...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 —
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Perched Precariously Upon a Pretty Petite Platform

But then he didn't balance his weight appropriately, and unintentionally started sledding backwards...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 —
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Uh, Houston, We Have a Problem




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 —
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She's Goin' DoooooooooooooooooOOOOoooooooooown




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 —
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And That Was That

Having more coordination, balance, and sense than her dad, Felicity had no such troubles...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 —
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Hamming it Up

But after watching her dad try to sled forward (again), but fail (again) and slide
backwards (again), Felicity thought it looked fun and wanted to try going
backwards on purpose...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 —
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Unsatisfying

it seemed funner when Daddy was doing it unintentionally

All and all, everyone had a great time playing in the snow.

Fun Day of Snow Play, Snowflake Photography, and Birds

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
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Bombs Away!

my brother Alan acting his (daughter's) age

Today was fun.

My brother Alan and
his wife Natalie and
their 4¾ year old Felicity are also
visiting my folks here in Ohio, and we had a fair amount snow.

Felicity's day started with feeding the birds with Grandma (as regularly happens here) for an
hour. It was cold (14F / -10C), so when they came
in from that it was time for some hot cocoa by the fire...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38mm — 1/40 sec, f/3.5, ISO 1800 —
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Morning Cocoa

Anthony's cousin Felicity (4¾)

I had a nice reaction to the “Goldfinches in a Light
Snow” post the other day, so I thought I'd try some more bird shots. I ended up being out there for only 10 minutes before other tasks called me
away, but got a couple of nice shots...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/2500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 800 —
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Focus




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 —
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Make Way




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/3200 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 —
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Out'a Here

Then it was time for some snow play, just like last year with Anthony.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/1250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 —
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Alan and Felicity





Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 —
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Making Snowballs with Mommy





Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
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Putting Them to Good Use

Natalie noticed humongous snowflakes on her jacket... I'd never seen the beautiful patterns of a snowflake with the naked eye, but wow, I could sure see them today...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 4000 —
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Snowflake on Natalie's Jacket

taken by hand while asking Natalie to hold still




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 —
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Inspecting Snowflakes on Her Sleeves




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/2.5, ISO 4000 —
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I couldn't believe that I could get snowflake shots with a normal lens
(even my favorite
macro). The results are not great as far as snowflake shots go (for
example, these),
but it's enough to make me wonder what I could do with a bit more preparation (and a platform
not moving around when her daughter runs up).

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2500 —
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Field of Flakes

I also thought I'd give a go at some snow-covered red berries, but the results are pretty boring.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 320 —
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Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 —
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Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 400 —
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Good Times

Flight from Kyoto to Ohio, Winter 2013 Edition

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/2500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Mt. Fuji

looking a bit bland, but at least it was visible this time

My winter trip from Kyoto to where I grew up in Ohio was via Tokyo, and
on the way to Tokyo from Kyoto we had a nice view of Mt. Fuji, and of
course, one must take a photo. Unfortunately the pilot neglected to mention
Fuji was just outside the window until we were almost completely past, so
the photo ended up being through the window at a fairly strong angle. The result is ho-hum, but there it is.

As far as from-an-airplane-window photos go, I much prefer the shots in
“View from the
Window Seat” five years ago.

In Tokyo, I had quite a long walk for my transfer to the trans-Pacific flight, but I had plenty of time...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/50 sec, f/4, ISO 640 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Under-Runway Tunnel

Narita International Airport (成田国際空港)

At the end of the tunnel was a tall atrium with escalators
criss-crossing on the way up. It seemed photogenic at the time, but perhaps
I needed a wider angle....

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/50 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Less Dramatic than I Remember

Oh well. I like the tunnel shot.

On the 13-hour transpacific flight I was blessed to sit next to an
interesting conversationalist, but the ANA airplane had some kind of new
butt-sliding seats that didn't actually recline. They are perhaps
comfortable up to a certain height, but I'm well beyond whatever that
height is, and the flight ended up being one of the most uncomfortable
trans-Pacific flight's (of about 70 or 80) I've ever had.

A 1½ hour mechanical delay in getting out of Tokyo meant that I
missed my connection in Chicago, but I was able to snag a flight
within four or five hours... a much better situation than last
year (written about in “Thank You Anonymous Hero at
Chicago O’Hare’s Gate E2a”).

I got to my folks' place at 5pm. In bed by 6pm, and I slept until 7am.
Jet lag, which is normally crushing, has been wonderfully minor.

Goldfinches in a Light Snow

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 —
image data

Bush of Goldfinches
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Lots of goldfinches at the feeders at my folks' place in Ohio. During the summer they're brilliant yellow
(as seen in “Goldfinches on a Feeder” a few years ago),
but they're less vibrant during the winter.

I didn't bring many lenses on this trip... I would have liked the
70-200, but I made due with the Voigtländer 125mm and some cropping. Good
birding pics are very difficult and I certainly don't have the skill, but
these are fine for me.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 900 —
image data

Puffy
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Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1000 —
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Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 —
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Keeping an Eye on Me
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The bush was just a staging ground for the feeders. They'd all cleared away when I stepped out, and were just now starting to return...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 —
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Plenty of Free Parking





Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 —
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Twenty Five

not as full as it was before, but still more than two dozen birds in this picture





Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 —
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I Twitched

not quite as mean as this




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 3200 —
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They'll Be Back
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Photos of Farming in Japan for Captain Bill

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at an effective 202mm — 1/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 320 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Farm in Northern Japan

Furano City, Hokkaido Japan — May 2007

( Similar shots are found in “Pretty Fields in Biei” )

I popped down to South Carolina to visit my brother Alan and to join him
in a road trip back up to Ohio, and on the flight last night I sat next to
an off-duty pilot for US Airways who lives on a 250-acre farm in Ohio and
commutes to his flight hub in Charlotte for work. We had a nice chat.

He knows nothing of Japan, and enjoys farming, so I thought I'd put a
post of random “farming in Japan” photos for him. It's somewhat of a
challenge to find appropriate (but still unpublished) shots among the
130,000 photos in my archive, but are some I could scrounge up at short
notice.

Most of these shots come from events that have already been discussed on
my blog... if you have interest, see the “nearby photos” link under each
photo for more photos from the same area, and links to the associated
article on my blog.

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at an effective 165mm — 1/320 sec, f/3.2, ISO 400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Farming Village and Rice Paddies

Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan — June 2008





Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Out to Dry

rice after the harvest, Katano City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan — Oct 2011

I've a lot of blog posts about rice farming; perhaps the best
introduction is “Stages of the Rice
Harvest”.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 56mm — 1/800 sec, f/4, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Pineapple Farm

Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan — May 2009









Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at an effective 157mm — 1/320 sec, f/9, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Family Farms in Furano

Furano City, Hokkaido Japan — April 2007

( More found in “New Furano Prince Hotel” )




Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 25mm — 1/160 sec, f/10, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Larger Farm

Biei City, Hokkaido Japan — April 2007





Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Tree Farm

Kyoto Japan — Dec 2010




Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 640 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Tree Farmer

Kyoto Japan — Dec 2010




Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO 560 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Finish Work

Kyoto Japan — Dec 2010









Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at an effective 105mm — 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Rolling Fields

with a large tractor/combine(?) in the background for scale

Furano City, Hokkaido Japan — April 2007

( More found in “Stinky Feet” )






Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 57mm — 1/1250 sec, f/4.5, ISO 320 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Biei City, Hokkaido Japan — May 2007

( More found in “More Biei Countryside” )




Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at an effective 240mm — 1/1250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 160 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Biei City, Hokkaido Japan — May 2007




Nikon D200 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 at an effective 300mm — 1/250 sec, f/9, ISO 160 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Rocky Soil

Biei City, Hokkaido Japan — May 2007

( More found in “Yet More from Picturesque Biei” )




Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 57mm — 1/90 sec, f/4.5, ISO 500 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Planting Rice

Kyoto Japan — May 2007

( More found in “Preparing a Paddy for Rice Seedlings” )




Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 67mm — 1/100 sec, f/10, ISO 320 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Countryside Rice Field

Ohara Village, Kyoto Japan — June 2008






Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 82mm — 1/200 sec, f/5, ISO 500 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Nestled in the Mountains

Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan — June 2008




Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 45mm — 1/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 500 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Farmstead

Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan — June 2008

We came across this farming community nestled in the mountains an hour
north of Kyoto by chance while on a drive on a drizzly/foggy summer day,
but apparently it was popular with photographers because we saw this sign
by the road:

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 at an effective 42mm — 1/180 sec, f/5, ISO 800 —
map & image data — nearby photos

“Attention Visiting Cameramen”

“please stay out of the fields”





Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/2500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Drying Rice at the Side of the Road

Iga City, Mie Prefecture, Japan — Nov 2010






Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Working the Rice Paddies

Overlooking Aragijima City (あらぎ島), Wakayama Prefecture — May 2011

( More found in “The Aragishima Terraced Rice Paddies of Wakayama” )





Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Small Farm

Near the Sanzen-in Temple (三千院), Ohara Village, Kyoto Japan — Nov 2012




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/1250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Small Farm

Near the Sanzen-in Temple (三千院), Ohara Village, Kyoto Japan — Nov 2012




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5600 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Bamboo Farmer

Bamboo Farm, Kyoto Japan — Apr 2013





Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 —
map & image data — nearby photos

New Growth

Bamboo Farm, Kyoto Japan — Apr 2013
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Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Baby Bamboo

Bamboo Farm, Kyoto Japan — Apr 2013





Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 6400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Putting Their Product to Work

Kyoto Japan — Apr 2013




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/2000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 5600 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Fence Detail

Bamboo Farm, Kyoto Japan — Apr 2013




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Weeding by Hand

Kyoto Japan — Sep 2013




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Bundling Fresh-Cut Rice

Kyoto Japan — Sep 2013

( More of this lady working her field here )




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 34mm — 1/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Lotus-Root Farm

Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan — Oct 2013

Lotus root (レンコン) is a common food

And finally, one bonus (non-Japanese) shot...

Canon IXY DIGITAL 600 — 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400 —
image data

The Happy Farmer Boy

Anthony at 2½ (in Ohio at the time) — May 2005

Recovering from an OSX Format of your Garmin Device

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/800 sec, f/22, ISO 5600 —
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Still Searching

for a Garmin product that doesn't suck

at the Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚), Kyoto Japan

I hate to have any negative articles on my blog, much less two in a row,
bow wow, it's difficult to count how many ways Garmin's products are so
much worse than they need to be, from devices designed for the pocket but
without a way to lock the buttons from being
bumped in pocket, to worse-than-nothing “features” you can't
turn off, to memory-card slots buried behind batteries (really? How does one screw up something as simple as a memory card slot? Ask Garmin.), to any number of
additional “what on earth are they
thinking?” observations.

From hardware to software to support, they have mediocrity covered.
I seems apparent that you don't have to bother
with common sense or quality when you don't have much competition.

Anyway, this blog post is for the search engines, to help folks with the same problem I had.

In short:

If you formatted your Garmin flash drive on a Mac, and now you get
“The update file is corrupted” when using Garmin's WebUpdater, even
though you've borrowed a Windows box to redo the format with FAT32, and
even placing a new GCD file seems to be ignored... the solution is to
format using the method described here.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 360 —
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Bell

at the Nishi Hongwanji Temple (西本願寺), Kyoto Japan

As per that page, I used the “rmpresub” program, but finding the download link
is difficult among the waterfall of ads. The download link I
eventually got to is this
one, but to find it yourself visit http://www.rmprepusb.com/ and then in
the left-hand nav select “Latest RMPrepUSB versions + downloads” then
scroll down a bit until you see a list. It's the second one.

Find a Windows box and run that program while your unit is plugged in,
and adjust the dialog as per the
method description. Then unplug the Garmin device and plug it back in,
and now you can run WebUpdater.

If this doesn't work, additional help can be found here
and here,
but not here.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 45mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3200 —
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Temple Bridge at Dusk

at the Chion'in Temple (知恩院), Kyoto Japan

Garmin just sucks so bad. They advertise their products as working with Mac, but
they can't handle being reformatted on a Mac, as if they don't truly understand how to work
with flash memory as a disk. (It's not “as if”, it's pretty clear that they don't.)

A web search shows an ocean of folks suffering this same problem, across
a wide variety of Garmin products. Yet, when I contact Garmin to ask how to
fix it, they don't know what to do. At first they sent me a Windows
executable to run, and when I told them that hello, I'm on a Mac, they sent
me a “you need a Windows machine” reply.

I borrowed multiple Windows machines and tried their procedure, but it simply didn't work.
Determined not to reward them with an $80 fee to fix a problem that arose from their ineptitude, I continued digging until I found the must-reformat-in-this-special-way procedure linked above.

If Garmin had the slightest clue, the unit would do it itself the moment it discovered that the internal
format wasn't to its liking. Or, at least, Garmin's fix-it script would do that. Or, at least, Garmin
would have seen the multitude of folks running into this problem and have figured out the same procedure I found.
But no, they're just idiots.

I hate Garmin's inept design, but I haven't found any other location logger that does what I want
(1Hz logging for 12+hours, and a display that clearly shows the time and the current accuracy). Sigh.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/800 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Backyard

at the Seifuso Villa (清風荘), Kyoto Japan

Holy Cow, iOS 7 Has Some Really Horrible Design

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/5, ISO 110 —
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Timeless

Simple, elegant design is timeless

(the Seifuso Villa (清風荘), Kyoto Japan)
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“I hate it beyond words.”
“Worse than horrid.”
“I just really like the revamped UI.”
“This is horrible! Can I go back?”
“iOS 7 blows. Big time.”



— My friends' and family's reaction to
Apple's
latest interface for its phones and tablets.

“Beauty is in the eye of the
beholder” is perhaps most true when a well-established convention
undergoes a radical change. Not only is it then judged on its merits, but
also by how it differs to what came before.

The user-interface (UI) design of iOS 7 seems
to be of the radical variety. Not quite as radical as the initial iPhone
was to the cell-phone world at the time, but also not as universally
lauded. A lot of people really hate iOS 7.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/800 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Spoiling My Shot

the geiko and her patron walked into what had been a clear shot of the temple

at the Kurodani Temple (金戒光明寺), Kyoto Japan
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(Except the first, the photos on this page have nothing to do with the text; they're just random photos I've taken recently.)

Until recently I'd never actually used iOS 7,
but from seeing it in news and advertisements over the last few months, I knew I didn't like the new look. The same aesthetic that I like so much
about Apple hardware — a clean, ultra minimal, uncluttered look
— seems to me in the software of iOS 7 to
be flat, dead, lifeless.   Soulless.   It looks like Microsoft
designed it. It would fit right in with the new Windows® logo.

To be clear, the look may not be my cup of tea, but that certainly
doesn't mean it's a bad design, it's just one that I don't
personally care for.

However, I'll go ahead and say that for reasons I'll describe below,
iOS 7's design is bad.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1000 —
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“No Parking”

“Vehicles pass even at night”

at the Saginomori Shrine (鷺森神社), Kyoto Japan
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Having had the chance to actually play with iOS 7 recently while setting
up a new phone for my wife, I
was shocked that Apple could introduce such gimmickry at the
expense of function.

The visual change in iOS 7 that got the most press is the dropping of
many of the gratuitous skeuomorphs, such as
the “stitched leather” decoration of the calendar app. Some skeuomorphs
make a lot of sense, tapping into the accumulated
experience users have developed in life so that basic things don't have to
be learned from scratch. That's why interactive buttons in computer
applications, for example, have long looked like real-world buttons: the
look instantly explains what kind of control it is and how to interact with
it. Others are just cutesy design embellishments, and Apple has gotten rid
of most of those now.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 42mm — 1/100 sec, f/2.8, ISO 5600 —
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Waiting

to enter an evening lightup event

at the Chion'in Temple (知恩院), Kyoto Japan
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Another iOS 7 visual change that got a lot of
press was the “simplifying” of the look. Someone who likes the new look might
describe it as “clean” and “uncluttered”.
Someone who doesn't might say “uninspired”, “monotonous”, “flat”, and “dull”. (An engineer
would say “vectorizable”, but that's just a
back-end implementation optimization.)

But these design decisions are mostly a matter of taste and not of
“good” or “bad” design. Personally I find the new app icons to be a bit too
visually indistinct to recognize as easily as the old ones, therefore
requiring more conscious brain power to recognize. This is not a good
thing, but perhaps time and experience will remedy that.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Diving into Shadow

at the Sento Imperial Palace (仙洞御所), Kyoto Japan
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The quantitatively worst aspect of iOS 7's design that I've noticed is
the incessant use of transparency for zero practically-useful effect. It's a visual gimmick that can be done now because the hardware has enough
horsepower to support it, but “because we can” has never been a good design
principle. There are times where transparency in one window (allowing you to
see what's both in it and behind it at the same time) is useful, but
I didn't notice such an instance on iOS 7's: every
time transpiring was used, the result was a less-clear UI.

Here's an example from Apple's own marketing:

What leaks from behind is the field of app icons and the background
image behind them. There is absolutely no benefit to seeing that
information at this point in the user's interaction, so at best it can be
“not a distraction”, but at least to me the blobs of color are a horrible
distraction, and the text is more difficult to read where the blobs are
bright white. And this is the example they chose for product marketing...
it could be much, much worse, depending on what happens to be in use for
the icon-screen background.

In other areas of iOS 7, the transparency had different levels of impact,
but in every case I noticed, it was a detriment. Transparency seems to be
to iOS 7 as a curved screen is to
a cell phone: worse than before.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/11, ISO 1800 —
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Outside Hallway

at the Seiryoji Temple (清涼時), Kyoto Japan
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Another bad design chose of iOS 7 is that in its drive to remove as many
design elements as possible (“more clean, less cluttered!”), important
visual clues that helped direct the eye were removed, such as visual clues
to isolate individual items in a list. Lists of friends in the Find my
Friends app used to be clear and obvious, now became jumbled masses of
pixels that one must spend neurons on to decipher.

Feature wise, the theme of iOS 7 seems “more features; harder to
discover”. Discoverability is normally a big part of interface design...
great features mean nothing if users don't even notice that they're
available.

Prior to iOS 7, one could access the whole-device search feature by
moving to the zeroth screen of app icons, advertised by the standard
“search” magnifying-glass icon at the left of the line of dots that
represent each screen of app icons. Even if you somehow missed the search
icon, in normal use of the device you'd sometimes overrun the home page
while swiping around and quickly learn how to get to the search screen.

Now in iOS 7, the search screen simply seems to be gone, at least until
you get frustrated enough to do a web search to learn where it went. Once
you learn it, it's quite useful, but completely non-intuitive and hidden
until you do.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/2500 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Consultation on the Go

at the Nishi Hongwanji Temple (西本願寺), Kyoto Japan
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It used to be before iOS 7 that you could get to the “notification
center” (list of alerts like new messages and email) by swiping from the
top of the screen down. This wasn't easily discovered unless your finger
happened to bump the top area of the screen, in which case a skeuomorphic
set of “grip ridges” would show up letting you know that there was
something to pull down. It's worse in iOS 7 in
that what you get when you swipe down like that depends on where you start.
(If you have iOS 7, give it a try: swipe down
from the very top, and from some place that's not the top. Also, for a
great feature, try swiping from the bottom of the screen.)

Another gimmicky bend to iOS 7 is the use of meaningless “because we
can” animation. Many animations are actually useful, such as the
“disappearing genie” effect in OS X when you hide
a window, because it shows you where the window has gone, which in turn
teaches you how to get it back. The animations in iOS
7 that I noticed are not of that variety: they add no information,
merely frustration.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/100 sec, f/9, ISO 100 —
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Sundrenched Rice Paddies

at the Shugakuin Imperial Villa (修学院離宮), Kyoto Japan
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“Change” is neither necessarily good nor bad... only the result should
really matter. I only suggest that if you're going to change something well
established, be sure to have a good reason. It seems to me that many of the
UI changes to iOS were not done for a good reason.

(I should point out that for the most part I, like the iOS 7 team, am bad at design... heck, just look at my
blog's visual design. But you don't have to be an opera singer to recognize
when someone else can't carry a tune.)

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 2200 —
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Pure Enjoyment

my friend Kataoka-san enjoying his teeny tiny baby-cup of espresso

at Restaurant La Verveine, Kyoto Japan