Random Shots from a Kyoto Countryside Tour

I've tried getting this post done every day since “Little Pink Flowers”
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
days ago, but I keep getting caught up with Lightroom plugin work. I guess the balance between plugins and blog varies over time, with “blog” on
the short end these days.

Anyway, the “Little Pink Flowers” post was from an outing a couple of weeks ago
when I showed a visitor a bit around some of the fringe countryside areas of Kyoto. Our first stop was the Nishimura Stonecarver's garden,
an amazing place that has its own category on my blog...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 140 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Rich Light

at Nishimura Stone Lanterns (西村石灯籠)

Kyoto Japan

Then we made a brief stop at the
Tanukitanisan Fudouin Temple (狸谷山不動院) where I snapped a photo of a carving
on a sub-temple for “everyday life”...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 560 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Clothes · Food · Housing · Love

what this subtemple is dedicated to

( I don't see the connection between the carving and the dedication; maybe there isn't one. )

Then we popped up to Ohara and the Sanzen'in Temple (三千院). At one point inside a little boy came around the corner
and saw me (and likely that I looked obviously different from people he normally sees) and just stood there looking at me,
taking me in. I snapped a shot.

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

Evaluating

After several seconds he apparently decided that I was neither a threat
nor a source of treats, and proceeded to go on his way.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 280 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Taking It All In

Later in the garden I noticed these stone faces rising from the moss...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Serene Slumber
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I'd never noticed them before, but in looking around now I found many.
I'll have to go back when the light is better to try photographing them
all.

This next picture was taken quickly when I noticed a group of three
young-at-heart ladies in their 70s or 80s were forming a human chain to
allow one on the end to reach over a pond to touch a stream of water coming
from a bamboo pipe....

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

Helping Hands

I'm not sure what the deal is with the water and having to reach out
over the pond, but it's a thing at the temple.

Anyway, in picking photos to include on this blog post I realized that I
neglected to get an “establishing shot” that shows the wider context of the
pond, but I knew I'd taken such a shot during a previous visit. Lightroom
provides numerous ways to find photos, in this case all would be slow.

Several days of plugin development later, I came up with an extremely
fast way to search my 130,000-photo catalog for nearby photos, and voila,
here are a couple from 2010:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/250 sec, f/4, ISO 2000 —
map & image data — nearby photos
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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — 1/250 sec, f/1.4, ISO 500 —
map & image data — nearby photos
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As a bonus, I found some that I'd posted in 2011 but forgotten about.

On the way out of the temple you pass under a low-hanging branch that seems to have interesting leaves... after taking this shot
the other day...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 160 —
map & image data — nearby photos

I realized that I'd done the same thing a few years ago, slightly later in the season...

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/400 sec, f/4, ISO 5000 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Imperfect
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I'm not sure that the leaf pictures are particularly compelling, but the
ability to instantaneously see photos from other times, taken in the same
immediate area, makes me a bit giddy. I guess I'm just geeky that way.

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

Bright Wall
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We then took a drive on little-used roads through the deep mountains north of Kyoto, stopping by a little
village...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Fireproof Storage Building

with a window that can be shut tight in case the village is on fire

( because respect/fear of fire is deeply rooted in the Japanese psyche )

Elsewhere in the village we came across an old couple harvesting rice, by hand, with just a sickle and hard work...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1600 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Wielding Her Sickle




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Making a Bundle




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

To The Racks




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

Hanging to Dry




Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1000 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Much Yet to Go

Most of the rice has been flattened, likely by wind gusts during
the typhoon the other day.

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
map & image data — nearby photos

Reaching for the Next Bundle

I've written about the rice harvest various times in the past, including
here,
here, and
here.