A Day with Sergey Kolychev in Kyoto

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
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Sergey Kolychev

at the Heian Shrine (平安神宮)

Kyoto Japan, Nov 2013

I'm finally getting around to photos from last November, when old Yahoo
co-worker Sergey Kolychev paid me a visit. (He's not old, our co-worker
status is).

In the intervening three years since his prior visit he'd
become fluent in Japanese to the point that he can read novels, which just
blows my mind. Japanese is at least his fourth language (after Ukrainian,
Russian, and English), so maybe they get easier as they stack up.

We packed quite a bit into one day. We started out with a visit to the Heian Shrine...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 220 —
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Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/1250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 100 —
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We then popped over to the Nanzen Temple...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO 560 —
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Nanzen Temple (南禅寺)








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 180 —
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Sergey and a Big Rock

We somehow found a little hiking trail back beyond the Eikando Temple, which provided a nice view of the city through the trees...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/2000 sec, f/1.4, ISO 100 —
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Sort-Of View

of Kyoto








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Memorial Plaque

and a three-legged crow

People often put up little wooden plaques as a memorial of their hiking trip,
such as the bigger board above placed by a group of 13 people ranging from
79 years old down to five months old. I wouldn't have paid the crow a
second thought, but Sergey noticed that it was a three-legged crow, which
is apparently a thing. You learn something new every day.

When then moved north to the Hounen-in Temple (法然院),
which has appeared on my blog of late
here,
here, and
here.

The thin depth of field in this next shot makes it looks a bit unreal...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 360 —
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Entrance Gate

Hounen-in Temple (法然院)

This next shot, of Sergey standing under the gate, looks a bit unreal because I made a mistake and severely underexposed it, so had to employ
HDR-like post processing to recover a usable image...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.6, ISO 140 —
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I sort of tried to replicate this old point-n-shoot
shot that has for some reason always stuck in my mind...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/1.6, ISO 1000 —
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We moved north to the Silver Pavilion and its famous sand
sculptures, which I posted about the other day. Here's one more shot of
the lush moss there...

Nikon D4 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — 1/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 250 —
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Lush Moss

at the Ginkakuji Temple (銀閣寺)
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Growing boys must be nourished, so we repaired over to
a tea cafe for choux à la crème...

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Shoe Cream

at Kitayama Kouchakan (北山紅茶館)

(The Japanese word for this kind of cream puff is 「シュークリーム」 which sounds like the English “shoe cream”)

I opted for coffee, but Sergey is a connoisseur of fine tea, as Fumie can be sometimes, so I've been to this shop many times.

Sergey mentioned some knee pain that had been bothering him for a long
time, so I brought him to the best masseur in Kyoto, Kentaro Kataoka.
Sergey had never had a real massage before, so it was quite an
experience.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 900 —
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Working the Calf

片岡健太郎の治療院

I've had many massages in America, but after having had massages in
Japan, I'd never classify what I had in America as a real massage. They're
more like “shove some skin around a bit and hope it relaxes you” sessions.
These in Japan are closer to physical therapy. In a blog post about Japanese
massage a couple of years ago, I described this masseur's technique as
“a ferocious pinpoint attack like his fingertips are tactical weapons trying to massage the muscle from the inside out”. It can be very effective, but painful at the time.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/1.4, ISO 1100 —
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Controlled Stretch








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The Eyes Say It All

first acupuncture experience








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Now in the Arm

(I describe my hit-n-miss experiences with acupuncture here.)

Sergey thought the whole experience was great, so I'm glad that Kataoka-sensei was able to work us in at short notice. He'd been out for his daily jog when I called, and kindly cut it short just for us.

Newly refreshed, we popped over to the Chion'in Temple (知恩院) to see its big main gate...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/200 sec, f/6.3, ISO 4000 —
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Chion'in Temple (知恩院)

A shot from this visit appeared in a post half a year ago, on
“Huge Main Gate of Kyoto’s Chion’in Temple”.

We then moved to the famous Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺)....

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/6.3, ISO 720 —
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Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺)








Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/6.3, ISO 900 —
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The late-afternoon light was rich.

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 — 1/50 sec, f/8, ISO 320 —
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Looking Back to the Entrance Gate

of the Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺)
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This World Heritage Site temple is perhaps most well known for its big balcony...

Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/1000 sec, f/1.6, ISO 100 —
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Better shots of it, from years past, appear here,
and here,
and here.

But it's best of all with a friendly face...

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Nikon D4 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/320 sec, f/1.6, ISO 100 —
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Late-Afternoon Light

at the Kiyomizu Temple