Kyoto
was good.
I always leave that place with a smile
on my face, a beer in my hand, and a whole new set of
memories.
It is always a nice trip, but after
going there so frequeently I am now starting to have
a more difficult time finding new places to explore.
I hate to keep going to the same places over and over,
so I have pretty much covered Kyoto. (AS far as I know
anyway...I hope I am wrong)
One new thing I did this time was
to see the "Ukai" (Cormorant Fishing). Very
cool indeed. I got plenty of pictures, but the lighting
was really poor so it will take a little bit of work
on my part to get some of the shots ready for posting.
Definitely something worth taking the time to see though.
I also decided to take a break from the Temples and
Shrines of Kyoto and decided to take a couple of excursion
outside of teh city. I spent one night in Osaka (In
a business hotel with the worlds smallest bathtub, more
on this in a later update), and then making a short
half-day trip to see Himeji Castle.
Osaka is a lot like Tokyo, only...
(what's the word?...)... more "real".
What do I mean by "Real"?
Osaka is very similar to Toyko, except
it has a lot more of a down to earth feel to it. Not
at all pretentious like Tokyo can be. When someone in
Osaka smiles at you, you know it is for real. People
are much more open and friendly.
Fashions are also a lot more individualistic in Osaka
as well. (In comparrision, walking down a Tokyo sytreet
can sometimes make you feel like your on the set of
the film "robots" since everyone dresses so
similar)
I will definitely be going back to
Osaka in the future.
Fun place, really nice people, and plenty of new areas
to explore. The perfect recipe for a good time.
--
Himeji city itself is a pretty quiet
place, but it is well worth the trip to see Himeji Castle,
which is the undisputed best example of an authentic
Japanese castle. The place is huge, and one can hardly
grasp how much effort it took to construct. (My guess
is that the construction time could have been cut nearly
in half if they had had access to a couple hundred "Little
Giant" ladders during the construction.)
--
I am very impressed with what I have
been able to produce with my little Canon EOS Digital
Rebel XT. While not anywhere near as fast or capable
a tool as Canons 1 Series camera line, it performed
very well for me. I may give some serious thought into
holding off on buying the new 5D and instead use those
funds to take more trips instead. (Which will result
in me taking more pictures that I can then sell)
I also love how light and compact
it is. I can take it along with a small assortment of
lenses (135 f2, 50 f1.4, 35 f2, and 10-22 f3.5-4.5),
a couple of spare batteries, and my portable hard drive
(Eprson P2000) and that is all I need for a trip. Quite
a light little setup that retains a lot of flexibility.
And the battery life is truley amazing.
I had a total of three batteries with me, but I never
needed more than two of them in one day. (Come winter
though the colder temps will probably make that third
battery a good idea)
I'm not promising that I won't buy
the 5D right away, just that I will think about it a
little more before I take that step. The more I take
pictures the more I have come to understande that the
gear is the least important part of the equation. Knowing
what to do with it, and being in the right place at
the right time (and being lucky) are the things that
really go into maiking a great photo.
--
I'm still a little tired from the
trip, so I'll cut it short for now. But stay tuned for
coming updates as I will have more to say about my recent
excursions, along with a whole pile of new photos, ten
of which I have posted for you today.
--
Last chance for you artists out there.
Spetember 9th is the last day that
submissions will be accepted.
BlogAds, the service I use to serve
adds here on Sushicam is looking for a new logo.
So turn on your creative juices and enter your best
idea(s) and if you are selected as the winner you get
a cool $1,000 and the referring blogger (Your truly)
makes $300.
And to sweeten the pot even more, If one of you enters
and wins, I will turn that $300 around and give it to
you! So that makes it $1,300 for a winning entry!
Please see this
link for the details and information on how to make
a submission.
Comment 23
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