Jonathan Fleming's Blog

Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 at 22mm f/4.5, ISO640 1/80 Sec

Yummmmmm. The dessert above is a mango sorbet, which was a perfect finish to the Sushi and Shabu Shabu dinner we had with friends at a restaurant in the Gion area of Kyoto, Japan.  I never saw the bill for this meal, or any meal for that matter during our stay with our hosts. My friends never let me pay for anything when I was with them! If they ever visited me in the States, you can bet I’d return the favor.  I can’t remember ever being treated so nicely by anyone…

You know what one of my favorite things about Japan is? Don’t laugh! The vending machines:

Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 at 17mm f5.6 ISO200 1/123 Sec

There are literally thousands upon thousands of vending machines like this one sprawled out all over Japan. You can’t hide from them! I even saw them standing alone, often on unpaved roads, in the more remote areas I stayed at, outside of any major city. When I first arrived in Japan on vacation this year, I didn’t pay much attention to them. I quickly discovered, however, that the machines serve up cans of cold AND hot drinks. Yeah!

It was an unusually cold spring in Japan during our visit, and so nearly every time I’d walk by these vending machines, I’d reach down in my pocket for my 120 yen and grab me a hot little can of coffee.  My Japanese friends found this to be pretty amusing, and every time they’d see a machine, they’d say “Hey Jonathan, time for coffee!”

Of course, all this coffee drinking meant more trips to the restroom. No problem! Seems like the restrooms in Japan are as easy to find as these vending machines. They’re everywhere! Very convenient.

What really amazed me though, were the lack of public garbage cans. We have them all over the place in San Francisco, and they apparently don’t help much because there’s a ton of litter on the streets here (and in most US cities for that matter).  When I was in Tokyo, however, every time I’d buy something and eat/drink it on the go, I’d have so much trouble finding a place to throw the trash away,  and would usually end up carrying whatever it was with me until I got back to my hotel room.  You’d think that the lack of public garbage cans would mean lots of trash on the street right? Wrong. At least in the places I visited, I saw little to no litter, especially compared to what I see on the streets where I live.

Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 at 50mm f/10, ISO200 1/400 Sec

Kinda random, but I spotted the image above in my archives and wanted to post it. I love Japanese sports cars! This one was parked outside my friend’s house in Osaka.  Honda sells a similar car in the US, but with a different front end design that, in my opinion, is not nearly as cool as this one. Do you see any trash in the gutter to the right? Me neither!

Nikon D90 + Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR

Found this little gem stashed away in a box of photographic studio equipment my father gave me recently. The Ansco Cadet, apparently manufactured in the late 1950s, features a  switch on the front to move between color and black & white format film (127mm), a cool red shutter release on the front face, and ports on the side to attach a flash strobe. My sister also remembers shooting with this camera when she was growing up in the 60s.  To me, this thing is seriously cool, but I can’t get the shutter to work.   Such a shame…

Nikon D90 + Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm f/11, ISO500 1/60 Second, Handheld

Nikon D90 + Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm f/11, ISO200 1/80 Second

My Dad used to tell me about how great the Sutro Baths were at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Built in the late 1800’s, the Sutro Baths were a huge complex of pools, situated right on the waters of the Pacific Ocean underneath the famous Cliffhouse in San Francisco.  The Baths were closed in the 1960’s, and all that are left are these ruins.

Just a little more about the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. Before I bought it I debated back and forth as to whether I should instead buy the Tokina 12-24 f/4, thinking I might miss the 16-24mm range. I think it’s safe to say now that I don’t miss that range one bit in a ultra wide, and will happily make the extra lens changes.

Nikon D90 + Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR at 300mm f/5.6, ISO400 1/1250 Second

The bicycle is used extensively in Japan. These shots were taken in various neighborhoods throughout Osaka. 日本には自転車がたくさんありますね！

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, 12.8mm f/2.8, ISO80, 1/250 Second

Nikon D90 + Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR, 300mm f/5.6 ISO800 1/640 Second

Nikon D90 + Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR, 116mm f/4.8 ISO1600 1/160 Second

D90 + Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm f/2.8, ISO1600, 1/60 Second

Ok, I wouldn’t do this while driving, but I couldn’t resist a quick shot of my dashboard while stuck in downtown traffic…..

Nikon D90 + Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm f/16, ISO 200, 25.0 seconds

Ran out in the evening after dinner to start getting a feel for the new Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. It’s a blast shooting with this lens! The above image is slightly cropped. Taken at Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco.

Nikon D90 + Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 13mm f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/125 Second

Panasonic Lumix LX3, 5.1mm f/2.0, ISO 320 1/30 Second

Well, after wanting an ultra wide angle zoom lens for months and months, I finally bought one today. I’ve been scouring around trying to find the sold-out-everywhere Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 ATX PRO DX lens for some time now, and until today was considering just going for the highly praised 12-24 f/4 from Tokina as it is readily stocked by many dealers. I’ve been checking back at places like B&H every morning for a few weeks (that’s how I was able to snag my hard to get AFS 35mm 1.8G), with no success in finding the 11-16 in stock. This afternoon I did a search for Tokina dealers in the San Francisco bay area, and found that there’s only ONE in San Francisco. Not expecting much, I called and asked if they had any 11-16’s, and WHAT!? One Nikon mount left!

Nikon D90 + Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm f/11, ISO640, 1/60 Second (cropped slightly to straighten)

I rushed over and picked it up without hesitation. While I was there the guy at the shop (really cool staff there) let me try a bunch of lenses while he rang up the bill. I tried the Tokina 12-24,  and while I liked that it extends out to 24mm, I was more swayed by the 1mm extra on the wide end of the 11-16 AND the 2.8 constant aperture, despite it’s very limited zoom range. I tried the very interesting (and very new) Tokina 16.5-135mm lens, as well as Nikon’s highly regarded consumer lens, the 16-85mm 3.5-5.6 VR, which I found of similar to size to the 18-70 I used to use on my D70, but it felt much heavier! I really liked the 16-85mm’s range and the fact that it has built in VR, and I may want to pick that lens up for travel when more money comes in.

But back to the important lens! My wife and I (and doggie) strolled around downtown after leaving the shop and I got to snap off a few shots before the sun went down (I really wanted to get some sunset and dusk shots but we hadn’t eaten dinner!). Initial impression is veeery favorable. I am absolutely floored at the sharpness of this Tokina, even at its widest aperture. The build quality is outstanding as well, and overall I am really excited about putting this thing to use. I’m going to bed with a huge grin on my face! More shooting tomorrow!

Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 at f/9.0, 17mm ISO400, 1/350 Second

Just another memory from my first trip to Japan. One of the fondest memories I have was one brisk sunny morning in the small town of Kumatori in Osaka (about 1.5 hours from downtown Osaka by train).  I woke up at about 6am, which baffled my hosts (I was envious about how late their day started!). My wife and cousin were fast asleep. The day before started with about 5 hours of combined train rides to get to a friends house, followed by a relaxing Onsen (mineral bath), and a dinner in which we stuffed ourselves silly with Sushi, so it was understandable that they’d still be knocked out early in the morning.

For some weird reason though, I was up.  My host (and friend) got up about half an hour later, and after some breakfast, he said

“Hey, you wanna go for a bike ride?”

As I stepped outside the sun was rising, casting its golden light across the immaculately clean streets of Kumatori. I found the bike pictured above waiting for me. I gotta say, a leisurely ride through the neighborhood, which included a beautiful park, was an awesome experience. The details, the people, the architecture, the smells and sounds, and the feel of the breeze…all of these are unique to riding through town instead of being walled off in a car or by the hull of a bullet train, and gave me a truly rewarding perspective that I’ll never forget.

Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8.0, 50mm, ISO400, 1/60 Sec

Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, Tokyo Japan

Tokyo Japan, Nikon 90 + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8.0 50mm, ISO 500, 1/50 Sec

From my archives, a couple photos that sparked memories of riding the rail system in Japan. I live in a city where you’re not sure if your bus will come at all let alone be on time. Japan Rail trains run with ridiculous reliability and timeliness. If the train is supposed to get there at a certain time, it’ll get there AT THAT TIME. Missed a couple trains during my trip this year thinking that perhaps they’d be late!

I also love how snacks/drinks are so accessible in the station. The photo to the left was taken at a train station in Tokyo. A green tea flavored kit kat or hot can of coffee is always near =)

Tokyo Japan, Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 @ f/8.0, 50mm, ISO250, 125 Sec

We had a lot of fun riding the Shinkansen (bullet trains) at blazing speeds between Osaka and Tokyo while we were there. These things have dedicated tracks that don’t cross other roads or railways, so they’re free to rip through the country side at high speed, getting us from Tokyo to Osaka in a little over 2 hours.

Nikon D90 + Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

___________

Both times we rode the Shinkansen, I ate on the train. They have little stores at the station where you can pick up various snacks and even bento! They also have someone wheel a cart through the train every so often with snacks, sandwiches, and drinks. I was particularly impressed by the coffee surprisingly enough. I mean coffee on a train couldn’t be any good right? The coffee I had on the plane tasted like dirty water after all. But this coffee was good, and sure beat the 300 Yen (over $3.00 US) I spent on the smallest cup of Starbucks brew in Tokyo (yes, SMALLER than a tall, which is about $1.40 US where I live). In all, I was so impressed by the public transit system in Japan, and I look forward to spending lots of time on these trains when I return next spring!

Mmmmm, eating a Bento on the Shinkansen

This coffee was actually good!

Nikon D90 Nikkor 50mm 1.4D at f/1.8

Nikon D90, Nikkor 50mm 1.4D @ f/1.8

My beautiful wife is easily my favorite photographic subject.