トトロ Bus Stop

In a tiny town, tucked away in the rice fields of Oita Prefecture, there is a lone bus stop of wonder and excitement.

It is the トトロ Bus Stop.



Apparently, this town of Ume-cho has had the トトロ Bus Stop for years, long before the Miyazaki anime was ever made. And of course, once the word got out, this quiet rural town has become a mecca of sorts for Miyazaki fans, me included.

Luckily, the place isn't commercialized at all.

There is the now famous bus stop, and there is the トトロ woods, where people leave behind clay トトロ figures, and there is the giant ネコバス to take pictures with.

There are no stores. There are no vendors.

There is only the bus stop.

That's the way it should be.

蛍 Fireflies ほたる

Once a year, right before the rainy season, the night time is graced by the gorgeous luminescent glow of fireflies.

SmugMug Gallery

As if to compensate for their short, two-week mating season (as opposed to America's summer-long season), the fireflies come out in full-force for only a few days. So, timing is crucial.

Unfortunately, this year, the first time I went, it was a bit late in the evening and it had started to drizzle, causing the fireflies to retire early for the night. The second time I went was following a cold, breezy day, and quite possibly already past their prime mating period. But, I was still happy to see them.

Much like the cherry blossom season, the firefly season reminds me of how brief and transient life is, but also how beautiful and graceful such a transient life can be.

And, of course, now that I have my new toy, I had to attempt some photography.

Photographing fireflies is much like photographing the stars; one must find a pleasant balance of composition, of exposure, and of luck.



Once I got a few pictures I was proud of, I sat back and enjoyed the last of the fireflies of this year.

Volleyball Game

SmugMug Gallery

My fourth graders asked me to come and cheer them on at their volleyball competition. Despite sleeping in this morning and thus missing their first game, I was lucky. They won the first game that I missed, so I was able to catch them compete in the second and third rounds.

It became immediately obvious that my lenses weren't cut out for this type of shooting. The amount of available light was dreadfully low, and even with the ISO jacked up to 800 or even 1600, the shutter speeds I was able to obtain with the slow lens (the largest aperture on my telephoto zoom at 300mm is f/5.6) were too long (around 1/50), and thus many of my pictures were out of focus.

This is what my coffee filter looks like in the available lighting.



At first, I wasn't too happy with the MWB with the coffee filter. I mean, the AWB was actually really good at reproducing quite faithfully what the gym looked like, while the MWB looked fake.



But, looking back at the pictures, I can see how useful the MWB can actually be. If all of my pictures had used the MWB, I think few people would have suspected anything was strange about the lighting. For somebody shooting professionally, more control over the MWB would seem necessary.

As for my own memories, I like the orange tinge, just because that's how I remember it.

I guess if I were forced to do a lot of these shoots, I would feel compelled to get a faster telephoto zoom lens. My 50mm f/1.8 worked quite well, but it's reach was a bit short for sports.

To get a fast telephoto zoom lens is something to look foward to, way way in the future. Unfortunately, at the moment the lenses I would consider buying (mainly the Canon 70-200L f/4 and maybe even the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8) are both too expensive and too heavy for me.

Something else I should try out in such difficult shooting situations is shooting in RAW. That way, I can tweak the colors and white balance after the shoot, though making sure to remember to take reference coffee filter shots in that light. As we all know, I'm not a big fan of RAW, but for extreme situations, it seems the best way of ensuring good pictures. Unfortunately, I am still using a slow and small card, so RAW was not an option this time around.