Category: Photo

A Walk in the Park...

11/29/2018

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How to brighten up an extra work day:

Leave home 30 minutes later than usual - 8:00 am vs 7:30 am.
Buy the largest Starbucks coffee you've ever had thanks to a gift card from a kind neighbor. (Thank you, neighbour! (^.^)/ )
Get off the bus one stop early and take a short walk around the pond in the park.
Discover pink flowers in a sea of broken branches and piles of debris left over from the record-breaking typhoon in the fall.
Take turns photographing said flowers with a friendly senior citizen who lives nearby. Chat and learn more about the efforts being made to clean up the park. May take decades for it to recover, he says.
Greet the men who are taking a break from tackling the damage with chainsaws, and commiserate over the size of the job. Wish them all the best.
Enjoy the colours and smells of fall, and marvel at the resilience of mother nature. Regardless of the destruction and damage of the typhoon, life goes on as it should.
Head off to the office thankful that my schedule sometimes allows me such flexibility.

(If you know what these pink flowers are, please leave a comment. As usual, I have no idea...)

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This weekend I went on a short boat cruise. The main purpose was to enjoy the view of Mt. Fujii. Well, the weather was spectacular. The skies were a beautiful clear blue and there was hardly a cloud to be seen - except for those covering Mt. Fujii. All we could see was the very tip and that soon disappeared from view. Ah well. It was a glorious day to be out and the seagulls kept us entertained from beginning to end. (And we had fabulous views of Mt. Fujii the next day with no cloud coverage at all.)

Oh, the seagulls! As you may have noticed, I rarely take photos of things that move. I just haven't had much experience. However, the seagulls were flying so close I decided to take a chance. My camera settings were not what they should have been and, boy, can those things move fast! But I can be stubborn and so I tried. And tried. And tried.

In the end, I took over 150 shots. Less than a handful were successful but still I'm glad I tried. Yes! Sometimes, that stubbornness pays off! (^.~)/

(Here are my two favorite shots. I use a prime lens - no zoom capabilities - so the seagulls at the bottom were particularly close.)

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Wishing...

11/21/2018

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It's such a beautiful time of year. The air is crisp, the sky is blue, and the fall foliage is spectacular. Unfortunately, it's also the busiest time of year for me and so, on most days, I sit in my office and look wistfully out the window.

Thankfully, last weekend I managed to get to Kyoto for a few hours. We went early in the day and were able to avoid the worst of the crowds. It was only a few hours and left me wanting so much more.

Ah... So wishing fall lasted longer and I had more free time.

(This is the very first shot from that visit to Kyoto. It was a little early yet - the trees were only just starting to change.)

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Black & White

11/10/2018

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Several blog posts ago I mentioned that I had entered some photos in the LensCulture Black & White Photography Awards. At the time I only posted one photo and a link to my FB photo page which would then take you to a another link where you could view my entries on the LensCulture site. On hindsight, that was a few too many hoops to jump through - and to see rather small images at that.

So, here are my entries. Since Lensculture's only stipulation was that the entries be in black & white, there is no unified theme. I simply chose some of my favorite black and white images. All of them were taken when I was out and about (nothing staged), and all were taken close to my home in Osaka except for the lantern photo. That was taken when I was on a trip to Singapore.

Unfortunately, if I add captions to the photos, it cuts off part of the image so here are the photo details.

Sun + Breeze, Namba Parks, Osaka
Rope at the Kanji Museum, Kyoto
Chrysanthemum, Local Shrine, Osaka
Baby Cactus, My Garden, Osaka
Rose + Rain, Nakanoshima Rose Garden, Osaka
Chinese Lanterns, Singapore

Enjoy! (^.^)/

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A Big deal...

11/8/2018

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I just mailed my very first calendar order that was placed on this website using a credit card. While this may not seem like a very big deal, it is for me! Here's why.

When I first started selling calendars last year, almost all of my orders were in person. However, a few people asked for other options and so I quickly figured out how they could order using money transfers. These were all friends and none of the orders were going overseas so it was easy to sort it all out.

However, this year, there was interest from overseas. What to do? I wasn't quite sure but, regardless of the solution, it soon became clear I was going to need a website. So, off I went. Oh, what a learning curve! Oh, so many abandoned efforts! Oh, so many mistakes! Oh! Oh! Oh! Well, you get the point! Things finally came together on my third try and although this website isn't perfect, at least it does what I want it to do.

After setting up the website came the challenge of figuring out all the various payment options. That took some creative thinking but I'm happy with the results and I was pleased to find that I could set up a secure credit card paying option through Weebly, the host of this website. That took a lot of fiddling but slowly, through trial and error, it all came together. I was so relieved when everything was finally completely ready to go. Whew! What a lot of work! (You have no idea...)

So, the website was finally ready to go public. It should work, right? However, believing it should work and it actually working are two very different things. One of my biggest concerns was whether the credit card order process would work as it should. If not, then all the blood, sweat and tears (and cursing, cussing and gnashing of teeth) to set everything up would be in vain... But it wasn't! It worked like a charm! As smooth as butter! Easy-peasy!

And so that's why today is a big deal. It all works! And it works well! My very first credit card order has gone off without a hitch and now I can rest easy! Yes!!

Now, please excuse me while I go do a happy dance around my living room. (^.~)/

(A huge thanks to M.S. for placing the first credit card order. Bless you!)

Toad lilies are in season and I have several growing in my garden. The name always makes me laugh, but I love the flowers no matter what they are called! This is from last week.

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