Please! Please! Just Let Me Go Mountain Climbing!

Green Log On Hinokiboramaru
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

Yes, I can be a die hard and get out in the weather to climb two or three thousand feet into the atmosphere and meet more deteriorating weather and colder conditions. On the contrary, one of the main reasons I go hiking is for the photography.

The weather in Japan has been everything but good shutterbug weather. It has rained every single day since I came back from Chicago last Friday. On Tuesday there was a break in the weather for a day, but the rains continued the same night.

The most current forecast is for rain through Saturday, cloudy on Sunday, partial clearing on Monday, then cloudy for the rest of the forecast. Oh man! Only one good over-night hike for the summer, then on to Autumn. But with a heavier pack too! Bigger sleeping bag, heavier clothing.

So now I am debating an overnight hike on Monday and Tuesday of next week and risk not being able to get any pictures. Or just hang tight for the following weekend. The later choice is looking a bit more appealing given the work situation.

I am finding that it is harder to stay in the city working than spending time in the mountains wondering around. However, I must admit that my current job is far more interesting than any other I have experienced - I do like my work!

Country Home! Please Pull Me Out of the City!!

Mossy Creek - Hakone
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

I came back from Chicago hoping to hit the mountains for a two night trip to the mountains, but does not look possible at this point in the week. Blew all four days of what little summer vacation/Obon holiday on a business trip last week, and it looks like my chance of taking replacement days off are getting slimmer. Strangely enough though, that is not the only reason to abort hiking this weekend - the weather has turned really strange for this time of the year. Four consistent days of rain that finally broke today, and the latest weather forecast calls for three more days of rain through Saturday!
Weather breaks late Saturday for a mostly cloudy, part sunny Sunday through Tuesday. Might wait for some completely clear day forecasts or, at least a mostly sunny, part cloudy forecast.

I took this picture with the D80 on the second trip up there right after the monsoon rains that finished in late May to June. This is a part of the river that is accessible from a small uncharted rodent trail... and maybe my next campground! Of course, used the wide angle lens set right above the river.

Back From Chicago

Chicago Art Exhibit HDR With Border
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

When I set out for a short trip to Chicago exactly one week ago, I told myself to blog at least once or twice while away. A feat much easier said than done when going on these business trips, since all day long it is one event after the next up until returning to your hotel room at about 10:30 p.m. every night. The only time I could even break out of the routine to take a few pictures was on the Saturday of my arrival. The plane arrived about one hour early, putting me in the windy city at about 9 a.m. Needless to say, The Palmer House Hilton would not let me check-in until much later. I found this photo opportunity while wondering around to burn time - a stainless steel structure displayed in the Millennium Park. I was there just after lunch when there were troves of tourists, so I went to set the place super early morning (about 5 a.m.) a couple days later. The security guards kept challenging me, telling me to come back at 5:30. Had scheduled a workout and breakfast meeting, so that was not going to work. Oh well, I have been to Chicago many times and will probably go a few more - maybe next time.

One thing to note about time... In preparing for the early morning shoot that was not, I did not take the time to check for the sunrise time. An early morning shoot in Japan could happen at 5:00 to 6:00 a.m. very easily, but notice that the sun did not rise in Chicago until just a little after 6:00 a.m. Which has led me on a quest for a application for the iPhone that will tell me the sunrise/sunset time as well as the weather. 

Found this watch while spending eleven grueling hours on the flight back, and hope to find one in stock at a local store. However, would like to have this with a world time clock.

JRs Finest - Yokosuka Line

JRs Finest - Yokosuka Line
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

Have tried a couple of times to do well-thought, composed, set shots of trains from the platforms with the best picture having a trail of blur or some other flaw. Then I resorted to from-the-hip shots. If I see a moving train, pickup the camera, set to speed priority and shoot. This photo was one of those shots, but I was not aware of one particular setting when I took this shot.

The night before, I was using my Nikon D60 for some night shots and had set the ISO to 800. So after several shots of moving trains, we now know that the best train shots are at about F9 with a shutter speed of about 200. If possible, drop the ISO to about 100 or 200 for a finer grain.

This particular shot was taken out of the exit of Kita Kurihama Station.

Ryugaeshi Falls - 竜返しの滝

Ryugaeshi Falls - 竜返しの滝
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

Several people have stepped forward to say how they like this photo. I processed it, then sat for a couple of weeks wondering if I should release it to Flickr or not. But after a good second look, thought that the mist and fog would help the mood, so here it is. This was take with a Cokin circular polarizer on the front of the lens. I have one other version with polarizer and brown filter, but that makes it look way too misty - almost foggy.

This week is a tough grind with a four-day week and back-to-back meetings with associated deliverables through Thursday. Wednesday afternoon I get a small break to recoup, but not much. Then I am off to Chicago until the late the following week.

All this rush means that I will not have a lot of time for hiking, camping, photography, or any of the other fun stuff. Although I am looking forward to shutter-bugging in Chicago. Lot of great architecture and black-and-white photo opportunity... I think.

Fountain At Kenchoji - Bought An iPhone

Fountain At Kenchoji
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

I was tring to get a bokeh effect out of this picture, but the lens attached to my camera at the time was not a long enough focal length to get a total effect. But what came through was good enough. Then when I originally processed the photo, I had a hard time accepting the water hose in the background, but now think that it actually adds to the photo.

Two days ago I went into the Softbank shop to pickup my reserved 16GB iPhone. I like it, and think it will change the way I work. All of my Exchange mail and me.com mail all pushed to a single device will help me on a couple of levels - especially with professional email and my personal social networking.

Trail To Hinokiboramaru - HDR

Trail To Hinokiboramaru - HDR
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

Freaked out after upgrading some software and could not get into my photos for about 36 hours. I plundered around on my directory structure for hours gathering all the proper information, and now I am back! Computers...... it's sometimes hard to live with them, but now you definitely cannot live without them.

This is an HDR version of a photo that was blogged earlier. Which one do you prefer? I think that the HDR version does offer a lot more detail, but the sacrifices color reality. It turns the photo into a painting. Or, could it be the HDR technique that I am using? Quite a bit of the later, for sure.

This offers an interesting analysis and contrast between the images. Please post any insights that you may have.

Trail To Ryugaeshi Falls - To HDR Or Not

Trail To Ryugaeshi Falls
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

These trail photos are starting to be an ongoing theme in my photo collection. I think it is because of the opportunity to recognize, compose, and process. The biggest challenge in these photos are the white clouds in the background. These clouds are almost consistently washed, so corrections in post-processing tend to turn those small portions into noise that darkens to noise.

However, over the past couple of days I have noticed a lot more blue sky, which I hope makes it to this weekend. Probably go to Kamakura for another walk, except this time take the girls with me.

Oops, sidetracked! Back to the picture... One of the first photos like this that I posted on Flickr was a hit and I could not figure out why. It was a rather plain photo of a stairway taken at a very wide angle in portrait. Later I realized that it was the detail in the photo that HDR brought. The same thing happened with this photo. The post-processing of the photo produced a very nice photo with all the colors I wanted, but when the detail came out after the HDR processing, I decided to stick with HDR. Here it is.

Please post a comment or question.

Sengataki Falls

Sengataki Falls
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

I have not uploaded or blogged on any of the waterfall photos from a day hike up in Nagano last week, because I had a hard time deciding which were going to be my finals. This photo appealed most since the foreground water really seems to add to the waterfall rush.

The next waterfalls down the trail from this one offered very little photogenically since it was very foggy bythe time i got there. Even with post-processing the choices are sparse.

Japan right now is really hot and muggy down in the plains, and very foggy and cloudy up in the mountains, so going to keep my outdoor plans to day hikes over the next couple weeks. Planning another two-day or three-day hike in September when the leaves start to change in the higher mountains. Looking forward to the next one, which will probably be up in Takao.

Please comment.

Trail To Hinokiboramaru From Hirugatake

Trail To Hinokiboramaru From Hirugatake
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

This was one of the trails that I managed to get on the second day of hiking in the Tanzawa range this past weekend. After reaching a decent altitude up in the mountains (where the good pictures are) fog rolled in and put me out of the picture business on the first day. The second day allowed the sun to burn through and shine a little light on the mountain tops - this was one of those moments.

It can also be said to be one of those moments, since I was out of water at this point; with three hours to go and two hours since the last sip. Tanzawa is dry and some of the water marks on the map do not necessarily exist in the middle of summer. I experienced this firsthand on this most recent trip. To save myself the first morning, after realizing that I did not have enough water to complete the trail, I purchased some bottled water from the mountain goat that runs the Hirugatake mountain lodge - twol liter bottle for 1,200 yen!

Please leave a comment about hiking in Japan, photography, hiking in general, or about Japan.

Back From Tanzawa Weekend

Sengataki Trail
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

Last night at about 7 p.m. I arrived from a hike to Hirugatake Mountain in the Tanzawa range. It was a rough hike deep into the mountains, and once I arrived, I realized that my return route and overall planning was weak. I thought to myself at the end of the first day, "If it was this rough climbing up and down mountains along the range to get here. Then it'll be just as rough getting out." So next the though of what to do came over me. I opted to climb the last biggest mountain in Tanzawa, Hinokihoramaru, then descend to civilization from there. Will post some photos over the next couple days.

This photo, however, is from the day hike in Nagano last Monday. This hike was mostly in the rain, so did not get as many photos, but the greens are luscious.

If you have a question about hiking in Japan or Japan in general, please post.

Akeno Sunflowers

Akeno Sunflowers
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

Back to work and in the groove again. As I stepped on the commuter train headed for Yokohama (then Tokyo) yesterday morning, a thought went through my head. "Cannot wait to get out of this rat race!" I love my job, but do not like the fact that I have to commute into the city to get anything done. This is probably indicative of my progressing age too. The older I get, urban lifestyle is less appealing.

This shot was taken out in Akeno in Yamanashi Prefecture. The sunflowers were not completely bloomed, but wil be in full bloom in about ten days. Would be nice if I had the time to go back up there. This particular field is actually up in the mountains at about 1,200 meters.