Dried Persimmon

Hello,

I was originally unhappy with this picture as a whole.  The foreground branches I thought did nothing but get in the way of the dried persimmon no matter where I positioned myself.  The background I thought wasn't blurred enough to where you couldn't see any details.  Then the persimmon is in focus but it wasn't correctly framed to the rest of the picture.

Finally my wife looked at it and said she loved it because it was very wabi-sabi.  So I looked at it again and fell in love not for the technique but for the scene.  The branches were all in the way because that is the scene and the way they looked even to me.  The background told you it was fall with the green pine needles.  The dried persimmon is correct when you add in the rest of the picture and take it as a whole and not one rule at a time.

Thank you very much for reading.

Sitting Daikon

Hello,

I thought that today I should do another picture that is a little bit different.  My local supermarket has a great section that is only for local produce and products.  It is somewhat large and has wonderful quality also it is right in the front of the store so you can't miss it.  I always have to look through it all and pick up anything that looks very fresh or cheap.

One day as I was looking through that section I came across this daikon.  You can find some very interesting pictures like this online but I saw this in person and to me it looks like it is sitting down waiting.  The way the stems are cut looks to be almost like a cool haircut and combed back.  They whole scene is fitting with all the other vegetables on either side.

Thank you very much for reading.

Singing Bird

Hello,

The different seasons always brings out different animals and wildlife.  In Japan you can always hear the song of summer from the cicadas and the rain during rainy season.  After rainy season but before the heat of summer and the cicada is the time for the mountain pigeons.  They can be heard all over even if you don't live near a mountain and are normally flying together in pairs.

I heard this one long before I saw it because it had yet to find a partner and singing his heart out.  He was up a large tree through all the green needles on the look out for a bird to call his own.  I love his striking feathers and that piercing red eye that was watching me.  Most of all though is the texture of the brown bark on the pine tree in the background.

Thank you very much for reading.

Snow Steps

Hello,

Trust me when I say that I know that not everyone wants to see snow right now.  Where I live we have had four days of snow in a row.  Everyday I go out and shovel snow in front of my house so that it doesn't get to high, one day I had to do that twice.  Also at the same time I shovel some of my neighbor's fronts as well, they are elderly and I don't want to have anything happen to them.  They are so nice to me I feel I have to plus I am outside dressed for cold anyway.

These fresh white snow steps were so wonderful to take the picture of.  All the night before it was slowly snowing and it had covered everything with the white coat.  I saw how great the clouds did their jobs so I thought I would take a few photos.  This one picture stood out from the rest mostly because it was almost abstract. 

Thank you very much for reading.

Night Snow

Hello,

This picture is one of the most interesting firsts for me with a camera.  I had been getting used to my Nikon and was looking for different techniques to try when I read about long shutter times.  Literally as I was reading the article it started to snow and I thought I should try it.  Of course handheld didn't work to well so I went out to the middle of my yard and put my camera on the ground.

This did the trick and I was happy with the results.  It's great that I have a shallow depth of field with a long shutter and because of that I have a little bit of bokeh. The straw grass is a wonderful contrast to the fresh white snow.  The fence in the background gives it a little bit depth but not in the way.

Thank you very much for reading.

Something Different Shed

Hello,

I wanted to show a different type of picture today.  Mainly because I know I love to take pictures of flowers and nature but I take other photos as well but they don't come out most of the time.  I passed by this shed four times a day for a month and always thought it was interesting.  It wasn't my "Style" though so I didn't take it for a long time until I said one day "Screw it" and took the picture without a second thought after.

The wonderful rust is all I saw those days walking past it.  Then after I show the picture on the computer I noticed more and more of the different items in the frame.  Shredded white paper on the shoji screen in the shed.  Yes the rust but also the wear and aging on the wheelbarrow and the A-frames next to it.  I see inside the shed a little bit and imagine all the old wondrous items inside as well just waiting.

Thank you very much for reading.

Plum on Trunk

Hello,

Nature never ceases to amaze me almost daily with something unusual.  I happened on this plum during the summer heat and knew I had to take a photo of it.  It may be difficult to see but the plum is growing not from a limb or branch but from the trunk of the tree.  It looks to me that maybe an old scar or cut was the starting point for this very health plum.

I think that after the amazement of the plum itself wears off what I love about this picture most of all is the different textures.  The green leafs have a very nice smooth texture that reflects the light nicely.  The bark has both a rough texture but also a dirty one from the dirt and grime in the dark part.  Then the plum has that velvet like and feel to it that all plums do.

Thank you very much for reading.