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posted: December 29th, 2010 |
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This page begins with December 19th - a trip to Jindai Botanical Garden, followed by a bicycle ride up the Nogawa (No River) to Nogawa Park. Then, on December 20th I went out to Mt. Takao to try and catch "Diamond Fuji", but I missed it. I went to Mt. Takao again on the 23rd - and this time I caught "Diamond Fuji". Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin December 19th |
On December 19th Kazuya and I went to Jindai Botanical Garden to look for Frost Flowers. The Garden does not open until 9:30 AM, so kind of late on a morning which is not that cold. We did NOT find any Frost Flowers. That did not, however prohibit us from walking around and finding some beauty. The first photo in this row is the small pond and some reflections on the water. This is the pond where we took the photos of the Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) last month (Page 2, Row 4 and Page 4 Rows 14 & 15). HERE is page 2 and HERE is page 4. The 2nd photo is the famous Pampas Grass (Cortaderia selloana) with no leaves at all on the trees behind it. The 3rd photo is looking across the Big Lawn at the bare Cherry Trees.
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 Dec19_001FixFR_ JindaiBG_PondAreaRC |
 Dec19_009FixFR_Jindai BG_Cortaderia_selloanaRC |
 Dec19_010FR_ JindaiBG_BigLawnRC |
The "October Cherry" Trees are blooming now. The first photo has been enhanced with Shadow Illuminator Pro. The 2nd photo is the sun shining through the Pampas Grass (Cortaderia selloana). This 2nd photo has also been enhanced with Shadow Illuminator Pro. The 3rd photo is one more of the "October Cherry". This one has been brightened with Photoshop.
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 Dec19_023SIPFR_ JindaiBG_OctoberCherryRC |
 Dec19_019SIPFR_JindaiBG _Cortaderia_selloanaRC |
 Dec19_025BrightFR_Jindai BG_OctoberCherryRC |
The winter flowers are now beginning to bloom - these 3 photos are all "Roubai" (in Japanese) or Chimonanthus praecox. The 2nd and 3rd photos are obviously a different variety or cultivar or something, but the sign did not give us a name other than just Chimonanthus praecox.
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 Dec19_042FR_JindaiBG_ Chimonanthus_praecoxRC |
 Dec19_044FR_JindaiBG_ Chimonanthus_praecoxRC |
 Dec19_050BrightFR_Jindai BG_Chimonanthus_praecoxRC |
Here is a final photo of "Roubai" (in Japanese) or Chimonanthus praecox. The 2nd and 3rd photos were taken in the greenhouse. They are "Bird of Paradise" flowers (Strelitzia reginae). The greenhouse is humid! The 2nd photo was taken with a steamed up camera lens, which I thought made for an interesting effect.
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 Dec19_032PSTMFR_JindaiBG _Chimonanthus_praecoxRC |
 Dec19_071FR_JindaiBG _Strelitzia_reginaeRC |
 Dec19_077FR_JindaiBG _Strelitzia_reginaeRC |
The first photo in this row is a Camellia - specifically a Camellia amplexicaulis (Pitard) Cohen Stuart. The 2nd and 3rd images are both 2-shot bracketed exposures which have been Tone-mapped with Photomatix Pro to create these images. They are an Amazon Basin Water Lily (Victoria cruziana). I showed you 2 shots of this plant back in October too, but these 2 images are far superior. For comparison - the October photos are on Page 1 in Row 1 HERE.
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 Dec19_080FR_JindaiBG_Camellia_ amplexicaulis_Pitard_Cohen_StuartRC |
 Dec19_090_091_TMTCFR_Jindai BG_Victoria_cruzianaRC |
 Dec19_092_093_TMTCFR_Jindai BG_Victoria_cruzianaRC |
When we left Jindai Botanical Garden we bicycled up the Nogawa (= No River) to Nogawa Park. We saw 2 or 3 Kingfishers along the river. These 2 photos are the 2 best. Such an amazing blue.
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 Dec19_101FR_Nogawa_Kingfisher _Kingfisher_Alcedo_atthisRC |
 Dec19_108FR_Nogawa_Kingfisher _Kingfisher_Alcedo_atthisRC |
And in this row - also more birds along the Nogawa - an Egret and some Mallard Ducks. These ducks were eating some kind of black berry type of fruit which some pigeons were knocking out of a tree. I did not use any flash - the sun was actually that bright!
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 Dec19_112Shadows FR_Nogawa_EgretRC |
 Dec19_130FR_ Nogawa_DucksRC |
| End December 19th, Begin December 20th |
On Monday, December 20th, I did not have any classes so I went out to Mt. Takao to try and catch "Diamond Fuji" - the day that the sun sets directly through the center of Mt. Fuji as seen from Mt. Takao. I was there in plenty of time and the weather was great, but I missed it. Why? Because I was sitting back from the summit crowd of people drinking a cup of coffee and eating a cup of noodles. I had checked the sunset time before I came and the information said that sunset would be at 4:31 PM. Well, that 4:31 PM time was if the horizon was flat! I did not take into account that the sun would be going down through the center of Mt. Fuji! So, I was drinking my coffee and eating my cup of noodles and suddenly I heard the "ohhhh's" and "ahhhh's" of the people and knew that I had missed it! Now, the only appropriate word is a swear word! These 3 photos were all taken at 4:37 PM. Note the brightness of the reflections from the airplanes to the right of the summit in the 1st and 3rd photos. |
 Dec20_06FR_Mt Takao_SunsetRC |
 Dec20_07FR_Mt Takao_SunsetRC |
 Dec20_08FR_Mt Takao_SunsetRC |
The first photo in this row - also taken at 4:37 PM - is zoomed in to the airplanes. The 2nd photo was taken at 4:38 PM.
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 Dec20_09FR_Mt Takao_SunsetRC |
 Dec20_12FR_Mt Takao_SunsetRC |
| End December 20th, Begin December 23rd |
Well, seeing as I missed "Diamond Fuji" on the 20th, I returned to Mt. Takao again on the 23rd - a National Holiday - to try again. The crowd of people on this day was incredible, seeing as it was a National Holiday. The best day for "Diamond Fuji" was supposed to be on December 22nd - the day when the sun would slide down right through the very center of Mt. Fuji. The first photo in this row was taken at 3:51 PM, the 2nd one at 3:54 PM and the 3rd one at 3:57 PM. These 3 were all processed from a "Digital Negative" (DNG). That is a format which I just recently learned how to save with my camera. I downloaded and installed the "Canon Hack Development Kit", which allows several things to be done with my camera which are not available through the standard menus.
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 Dec23_008DNGFR _MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_009DNGFR _MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_013DNGFR _MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
These 3 photos were taken at 3:59 PM, 4:03 PM and 4:11 PM consecutively. Only the first one was processed from the Digital Negative.
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 Dec23_018DNGFR _MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_025FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_054FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
These 3 were taken at 4:13 PM, 4:14 PM and 4:14 PM consecutively. The 2nd one was processed from the Digital Negative. This row shows the closest to "Diamond Fuji" which I saw.
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 Dec23_076FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_079DNGFR _MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_081FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
In these 3 shots the sun is now gone. The first 2 shots were taken at 4:14 PM and the 3rd shot at 4:15 PM.
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 Dec23_084FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_085FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_089FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
The first 2 in this row were taken at 4:18 PM and the 3rd one at 4:31 PM. Note the weird shadow on the left side of the mountain in the 3rd shot. The first shot was processed from a Digital Negative.
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 Dec23_101DNGFR _MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_107FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_133FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
The first shot in this row was taken at 4:39 PM. The 2nd shot is an 8 Frame Animated GIF of "Diamond Fuji" - only 4 of the 8 photos this shot is made up of are shown elsewhere on this page. A good deal of quality has been lost here - gif files are only capable of showing 256 colors.
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 Dec23_148FR_ MtTakao_MtFujiRC |
 Dec23_66_75_77_79_ 80_82_84_89DiamondFuji |
| End December 23rd, End Page 2 |
 Please check it out by clicking on the above button. (Click on the "Studies of Plants and Wildlife" link in the new window.)  Kazuya's 2010 Christmas Letter |
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| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 3 for the continuation of this month's adventures. |
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