Archive | July, 2009

Double Rainbow Over NTT

By on July 30, 2009 in Photography

The things you see when you are walking home…

Before this was taken, I think I had only ever seen a double rainbow once in my life: it happened to be when we were driving somewhere in Queensland, Australia. At the time, I was so excited I actually pulled off the highway and went driving around some neigbourhood chasing the rainbow against it’s ominous grey backdrop.

Anyway, on the way home the other day, LY and I both stopped in our tracks at the exact same second, turned to one another and exclaimed: “double rainbow!!” Fortunately, I had my camera with me, but, at that very moment, this flash went through my mind of the decision I’d made before I’d left the house: holding my ultra wide angle in my hand and debating whether or not to throw it in my bag, I chose not to because I didn’t feel like carrying an extra lens that afternoon.

Stuck with just the 30mm on a crop sensor, I briefly regretted the choice as the rainbow loomed overhead, but I’ve recently been in this mode of carrying just one lens and accepting the limitations it will bring. It’s actually quite liberating knowing and accepting that you’re just not going to get certain shots and that’s that.

So, there you have it – would’ve been a much different shot if I’d had the luxury of 11mm, but I actually kind of like the feel of this one.

[For the technically inclined: Sigma 30mm f/1.4 @ 1.4, ISO 200, 3 exposures hand-held and then tonemapped with Photomatix]
[For the non-technically inclined: I pressed the black button on the top three times and then layered the 3 photos digitally]

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Sumida River Fireworks/隅田川花火

By on July 27, 2009 in Uncategorized

Since moving to the other side of Tokyo (i.e., the west side to the east side), people often ask if I can see the Sumida River fireworks from my building. Last year, unfortunately, I completely forgot about the date until the actual day and missed them because I was not at home.

Last night (July 25), I decided to stay home and sit on the balcony and see what I could see. It’s probably a good thing because, looking at the building going up with that crane, it’ll be the last time I’ll be able to see them from my balcony.

What I also decided last night is that fireworks are rather boring when you can’t hear the sound of the fireworks going off or the sound of the excited crowd down below. Added to that, the show went on for so long (just over 2 hours) that I actually started to wish it would end. All in all, although I can see it from my balcony, it was just slightly too far to be spectacular, so I am looking forward to August 8th and the Tokyo Bay Fireworks (東京湾大華火祭) because they are much closer to the building and there will be the noisy, excited, crowd factor.

I actually like this one best (obviously not because of how the firework itself turned out, but because of the green glow lighting up the Tokyo sky):

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