Jeffrey E.F. Friedl's Blog, page 51

Entrance Foyer to the Seifuso Villa in Kyoto

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/2.8, ISO 220 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Entrance Foyer

bathed in late-afternoon sun

at the Seifuso Villa, Kyoto Japan

清風荘（京都市）の玄関
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I guess yesterday's A Simple “What am I?” Quiz wasn't as simple as I thought
because there have been no correct answers yet. While I give it some more
time, above we have a view of the entrance foyer from the same visit that
produced the quiz photo.

I've so much to post from yesterday's visit, but I don't know when I'll
find time, considering that we're now really starting to get into the fall
foliage season in Kyoto. I spent a long photographic today in Arashiyama
with Paul Barr and Damien Douxchamps, ending with the most-tasty chicken at
Uroko. I've not even had
a chance to look at yesterday's photos much, much less today's.

Living in such a photogenic place can be a problem at times, but it's a good
problem to have.

A Simple “What am I?” Quiz with a “Why am I?” Addendum

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

What (and Why) am I?

Seifuso Villa (清風荘), Kyoto Japan
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It's been a while (almost a year!) since my last
“What am I?” Quiz... I'll have to do better.

Today's “What am I?” quiz is fairly simple (it's clearly wood), so today
I add a “Why?”. Why is the What above what it is?

The photo is from an amazing day today at the Seifuso Villa (清風荘) near Kyoto University. The subject of the photo is something one sometimes sees to a
small extent at temples; what I saw today was by far the best example of (whatever it is)
I've ever seen.

(As usual, I'll hold all comments back in “blog moderation” for few days,
until I make them all public and give the answer.)

The Photogenic Kintai Bridge in Iwakuni Japan

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 450 —
map & image data — nearby photos

The Kintai Bridge (錦帯橋)

Iwakuni, Japan

The load photo on the other day's post (Why Does
Photography with an iPad Look so Silly?) showed the picturesque Kintai
Bridge in the background.

According to its
Wikipedia page, it was first built 340 years ago, but was destroyed by
a typhoon 60 years ago and rebuilt 50 years ago, and refurbished 10 years
ago.

It's a few miles from my father-in-law's childhood home, so we stopped
by during a visit last month.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

More Arches

than McDonald's




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Fairly Steep




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 640 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Angle of Incidence




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/1250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Apogee




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

Locked

Some of the huge stones at the top of the piers were locked to other
stones via small bowtie-shaped insets, four of which (of presumably six
total) for one stone are visible in the shot above. (What's the right word
for these things? Sort of similar to “lynchpin”, but that's clearly not the
right one...)

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Near the north end of the bridge is an apparently-famous ice-cream shop with more than 100 flavors. According to the sign, there were 120 flavors the day we visited...

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

むさし 100種類アイス

Some “flavors” are nothing more than various things sprinkled on vanilla, and perhaps many are just whipped in after you order, but there are a lot of strange results to choose from...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Menu

(very partial)

Some of the flavors visible...

88  Strawberry Yogurt

89  Banana Yogurt

Seems fine, but then...

90  Garlic

91  Natto (pungent fermented soybeans)

92  Soy Sauce

93  Seven-Spice Mixture (on the spicy-hot side)

94  Habanero

95  Curry

96  Ramen

97  Chazuke

... and then we come to what I ordered, 98, Wasabi (“Japanese horseradish”, the green paste you get with sushi).

It was good, but it took a while before I noticed anything besides the plain vanilla ice cream that was its base. I think they had mixed in some very mild wasabi bits or something. Eventually I started to notice the flavor, and it was quite pleasant. I like wasabi. Your mileage would be different if you didn't.

The Most Important Rule to Follow When Giving a Presentation or Teaching a Workshop

When I spoke at large software conferences back in the 90s, where 1,500
folks might pay to listen to hear me prattle on for a few hours, my
preparation went like this:

Discuss with the organizers the kind of talk to give.
When the conference program comes out, see the actual title and
description of my talk.
Prepare a talk that exactly conformed to that advertised title and description, even if it differed from what was discussed in advance.

Even the most fantastic presentation is destined to make people feel cheated if attendees arrive expecting to hear about something else.

I know this from unfortunate first-hand experience as an attendee
myself. For example, once I showed up to a presentation by Famous
Computer Guy expecting to hear the talk advertised in the conference
program, only to be subject to the advertised speaker inexplicably giving a
different talk, apparently recycled from some earlier conference.
It wasn't a last-minute schedule change; I think the speaker was just lazy.

Perhaps there was overlap between the two target
audiences — those interested in the advertised talk and those
interested in the delivered talk — but I was not among them and so my
time and my attention was completely wasted. I felt deceived and
disrespected.

This applies to most any kind of teaching/presentation situation where
folks choose to attend based upon the description.... from the aerobics
lesson at a gym to a college class to a presentation at a conference to a
play or music performance:

What you advertise to provide is the basis by which folks make the choice to attend,
so make sure to actually provide the content that you advertised, or you will certainly disappoint.

I showed up at my local gym today and thought I'd give a particular
aerobics class a try. It was advertised as being for beginners for whom
dancing is not a strong point, so it was up my alley to get in some
low-impact sweat. I think I was the only first-timer in the class because
when the instructor put the music on, I was the only person who didn't
launch into a complex choreographed dance (like a high-energy version of Michael Jackson's
Thriller). It left me just standing there dumb, wondering what
to do. Perhaps it was just a warmup? After a few embarrassing minutes of
just standing there amid the flailing high-energy limbs and torsos, I eventually bothered anther student to ask when the instruction could come,
to which I found out there wasn't any.

Nothing was wrong with the lesson nor the description: the problem is that they didn't match.
This is fully the instructor's fault (though the gym also bears responsibility for allowing such an instructor).

Feeling absolutely stupid and deceived; I slinked out of the room and returned home, devoid of both sweat and a good mood.

iPad Photography: This Guy is Doing it Right

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 400 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Deeply Appreciative

this scene really warmed my heart
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Given yesterday's post about how iPad photography looks
silly (not is silly, mind you, but looks silly, to me), when I
was out and about in Kyoto today with a friend visiting from The States,
seeing someone taking pictures with an iPad caught my attention more than
average.

The scene above, at the Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺) not long before sunset,
really warmed my heart. I loved the juxtaposition of old and new...
traditional and revolutionary... young and old (and young at heart)... all wrapped in the aura
of understated but undeniable class and style. I was tickled pink just to witness it as I was quickly passing by on the way home.

Earlier in the day, at the Ginkakuji Temple (銀閣寺, the “Silver Pavilion”) in north-east Kyoto....

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/125 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Pausing to Read my Blog?

( uh, no, probably not )

Other iPad-photography shots I happened across today are not worth sharing, so here's a bonus shot from the Kiyomizu Temple...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/8, ISO 125 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Late Afternoon Sunburst

There was probably a rainbow to my back at the time, but I didn't
notice. (I did notice later, but by then I'd moved to a place where the
foreground scene wasn't worth a photo.)

Why Does Photography with an iPad Look so Silly?

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Why

does this look so silly?

(at the Kintai Bridge (錦帯橋), Iwakuni Japan)

What is it about taking photos with an iPad or other tablet that makes it look so stupid?

My iPad has no camera so I've never been tempted to take a photo with
it, but even if I could, I'm not the kind to take advantage of its
social-networking benefits (like immediate posting to Facebook or Instagram
or whatever the current fad is). So I'd probably not use it for photography
any more than I use my iPhone, which is to say, not at all unless it's the
only camera around and my quality threshold happens to be low.

But anyway, tablet photography looks downright silly. Why? Is it that we're just not used to seeing people holding up big boards to snap a
photo? We're used to small boards (phones), so that's why people taking a
photo with an iPhone don't look silly?

Practically speaking the resulting photos should be similar to those
taken with a phone, so I can't come up with a logical reason why I (and the
rest of the Internet) has such a visceral reaction when presented with a
scene like this. Any ideas?

Well, At Least There Were Crows

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 86mm — 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2800 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Crows

Lots of Crows

at the Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚), Kyoto Japan

After posting “The Hope Imbibed in a Dull Sunset” the other day, I decided to pop on up for that evening's sunset even though I knew it would be
completely dull, out of a sense of irony and because I was going to be in
the neighborhood anyway.

As I walked up, there was more color than I had expected...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

As Good as it Got

Whatever flash of color was waiting for my arrival faded in the time it took to change lenses, and that was that.

The crows, however, often active at dusk, were in prime form.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155mm — 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 4500 —
map & image data — nearby photos




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/160 sec, f/5, ISO 900 —
map & image data — nearby photos

They accumulate in the trees near the top of the small mountain, sitting
more or less quietly until all at once in a sudden cacophony caws and wings
the sky erupts in crow, and they fly way out over the eastern part of the
city as a big expanding mass that, if viewed on a bird-by-bird basis, has
no apparent rhyme nor reason of purpose. After a minute or two, they start
to trickle back until at some point you notice that the sky is bird free,
or just one or two....

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/50 sec, f/10, ISO 3600 —
map & image data — nearby photos

And then a few minutes later, it starts over, repeating itself perhaps half a dozen times over the course of the fading light.

Lr5.3RC Fixes That Ugly Publish Bug (I think)

Today Adobe released a release candidate for Lightroom 5.3,
which I believe fixes the nasty Lr5 Publish/Selection bug I've written about. If you give 5.3RC a try, let me know whether it seems to be fixed for you as well...

The Hope Imbued in a Dull Sunset

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Hoping for a Nice Sunset

Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚), Kyoto Japan
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Over the years I've posted many sunsets from the Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚) in eastern Kyoto, from
spectacular to
quiet but nice to the most common: downright bland. It's been a source of occasionally dynamic views for a long time, but the practical reality is that for
every one time I show something from up there, I've visited and returned empty-handed many times.

Overall, the median experience is, basically, a waste of time.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/800 sec, f/22, ISO 2000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Brisk Wind

ひんやりとして気持ちのよい風
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I tend to keep track of the sky's potential for a nice sunset throughout
the day, all while mentally juggling my schedule to see whether a trip up
to the overlook for the sunset is even possible. I've properly predicted
most of the great sunsets I've seen, but that's only because my
ever-optimistic view almost always “predicts” a great sunset... it's just
that I'm wrong 99% of the time.*

In the face of such predictable failure, some might consider my repeated
visits to be “persistence” or “perseverance”, but I think it's more “hope”. Some day it'll pay off.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155mm — 1/640 sec, f/22, ISO 2200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

“There's the Sun”
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On a visit up there a week or so ago, the first views as I approached from the parking lot were promising, as seen above.

The weather was dynamic, with occasional wisps of rain being swept in on
the wind from a cloudburst sweeping across northern Kyoto, and this gave us
a weak rainbow for a moment.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/3.2, ISO 180 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Rainbow at Sunset

about as high in the sky as they come

The two guys in the lower left are trying to take the classic “sun held between forefinger and thumb” shot. The head of my shadow at right is the center of the rainbow's arc.

Having come to see the sunset (which is, by definition, in the opposite direction of any rainbow), no one else seemed to notice the rainbow, so I mentioned it...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/3.2, ISO 140 —
map & image data — nearby photos

“Oh, Pretty”

As for the sunset, it was okay, but mostly petered out. A few HDRish views...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 29mm — 1/125 sec, f/9, ISO 400 —
map & image data — nearby photos
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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos
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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Fading Dully Into That Gray Night
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Oh well, maybe next time, I hope.

*Engineers in the early days at Yahoo! will recognize
this as Zod's
foosball technique... predict a winning shot every time, so that the
one time a month he actually does win, he could “told you so” gloat
about it for the rest of the month.

The Hope Imbibed in a Dull Sunset

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Hoping for a Nice Sunset

Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚), Kyoto Japan
Desktop-Background Versions

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Over the years I've posted many sunsets from the Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚) in eastern Kyoto, from
spectacular to
quiet but nice to the most common: downright bland. It's been a source of occasionally dynamic views for a long time, but the practical reality is that for
every one time I show something from up there, I've visited and returned empty-handed many times.

Overall, the median experience is, basically, a waste of time.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/800 sec, f/22, ISO 2000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Brisk Wind

ひんやりとして気持ちのよい風
Vertical Desktop-Background Versions



1050×1680  ·  1200×1920  ·  1600×2560

I tend to keep track of the sky's potential for a nice sunset throughout
the day, all while mentally juggling my schedule to see whether a trip up
to the overlook for the sunset is even possible. I've properly predicted
most of the great sunsets I've seen, but that's only because my
ever-optimistic view almost always “predicts” a great sunset... it's just
that I'm wrong 99% of the time.*

In the face of such predictable failure, some might consider my repeated
visits to be “persistence” or “perseverance”, but I think it's more “hope”. Some day it'll pay off.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155mm — 1/640 sec, f/22, ISO 2200 —
map & image data — nearby photos

“There's the Sun”
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800

On a visit up there a week or so ago, the first views as I approached from the parking lot were promising, as seen above.

The weather was dynamic, with occasional wisps of rain being swept in on
the wind from a cloudburst sweeping across northern Kyoto, and this gave us
a weak rainbow for a moment.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/3.2, ISO 180 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Rainbow at Sunset

about as high in the sky as they come

The two guys in the lower left are trying to take the classic “sun held between forefinger and thumb” shot. The head of my shadow at right is the center of the rainbow's arc.

Having come to see the sunset (which is, by definition, in the opposite direction of any rainbow), no one else seemed to notice the rainbow, so I mentioned it...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/100 sec, f/3.2, ISO 140 —
map & image data — nearby photos

“Oh, Pretty”

As for the sunset, it was okay, but mostly petered out. A few HDRish views...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 29mm — 1/125 sec, f/9, ISO 400 —
map & image data — nearby photos
Desktop-Background Versions

1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600  ·  2880×1800




Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos
Desktop-Background Versions

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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/400 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Fading Dully Into That Gray Night
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Oh well, maybe next time, I hope.

*Engineers in the early days at Yahoo! will recognize
this as Zod's
foosball technique... predict a winning shot every time, so that the
one time a month he actually does win, he could “told you so” gloat
about it for the rest of the month.