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posted: December 31st, 2014 |
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This page begins and ends with December 19th and my trip (Kazuya had to work) to and climb of Mt. Takao for the 107th time. I went specifically to search for Frost Flowers (Shimobashira in Japanese) and to try and witness the "Diamond Fuji" phenomenon. I was successful in both quests, as the photos on this page will show you. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin December 19th |
On Friday, December 19th, Kazuya had to work and I did not. The weather was beautiful and the forecast for Saturday was for rain. The Sunday forecast was for clouds, so I thought that I had probably better go out to Mt. Takao and try and catch the "Diamond Fuji" phenomenon and while I was there I would also search for "Frost Flowers".The first photo in this row is a scenery shot which I took while hiking up Trail #6. It was surprising to see so much light streaming through the trees here because in the summer all of the trees have leaves and it is pretty dark at this spot. The second photo shows some pretty nice Frost Flowers extruded from the stems of Keiskea japonica plants. There were quite a lot of them this year and they were quite nice, however not as good as the best we've ever seen. The best we have ever seen and the best photos we have ever gotten were back on Christmas Day in 2010 and you can view those best photos HERE. |
 Dec19_01_Mt Takao_SceneryRC |
 Dec19_07_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
Here are three more photos of Frost Flowers. I found them between the summit of Mt. Takao and I-Ccho-Daira along the lower trail. In the third photo note that you can still see some slightly red maple leaves, which are good for scale. By the way, if you want to learn more about frost flowers, a phenomenon which is little understood, then the current state of knowledge about them appears to be most concisely summarized here
CLICK HERE (will open in new window). If you want to find more images of "Frost Flowers" on our site then please use the Google Search box just below - you'll get about 40 results.
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 Dec19_08_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
 Dec19_04_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
 Dec19_11_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
As I kept hiking along the trail I found more and more Frost Flowers. They are so very amazing to see.
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 Dec19_14_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
 Dec19_16_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
 Dec19_20_MtTakao_ FrostFlowerFromDNGRC |
The first photo in this row gives you an idea of how many of them there were. This photo was taken under very poor lighting conditions, so I shot it as a Digital Negative and could not do very good job of correcting the color when I processed it. The second and third photos are quite amazing ones.
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 Dec19_21_MtTakao_ FrostFlowerFromDNGRC |
 Dec19_27_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
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Here are three more Frost Flower shots and these came out quite nice.
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 Dec19_33_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
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Here are the final two Frost Flower shots and then a shot of Mt. Fuji from I-Ccho-Daira at 1:38 PM. Notice how far to the left of Mt. Fuji the sun is right now. In 2 hours and 40 minutes the sun will set directly behind Mt. Fuji.
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 Dec19_48_MtTakao _FrostFlowerRC |
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I hung out at I-Ccho Daira for some time and made some hot water. I had a cup of hot coffee and a package of "Cup Noodle" to which I added a rice ball. I also took additional photos of Mt. Fuji, as you can see in this row. The first one is a Tone-mapped image created from 3 exposure-bracketed shots, as is the third one.
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 Dec19_54_55_56_Mt Takao_MtFuji_TMTCRC |
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The first image here is the same as the third photo in Row 7, but using Photoshop® I applied a "Colored Pencil" effect to it. After I finished eating my lunch I hiked the 45 minutes or so back to the Mt. Takao summit and waited for Diamond Fuji to happen. The second photo here shows Enoshima (Eno Island) from the summit of Mt. Fuji. The weather was so amazingly clear on this date. The distance from Mt. Takao to Enoshima is about 42 kilometers (26 miles) at a heading of 149 degrees, about south-southeast (that would be 157.5 degrees). The third photo was taken at 3:08 PM. Now it's only 1 hour and 10 minutes before the sun will set behind Mt. Fuji.
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 Dec19_63_64_65_MtTakao_Mt Fuji_TMTC_ColoredPencilRC |
 Dec19_76_Mt Takao_EnoshimaRC |
 Dec19_78_Mt Takao_MtFujiRC |
Sunset is getting closer and closer. These three photos were taken at 3:55 and 3:56 PM, so now it's only 22 minutes and we'll see the sun sink behind Mt. Fuji, and if the atmospheric conditions are just right, we'll see a one or two second Diamond Fuji phenomenon.
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 Dec19_87_Mt Takao_MtFujiRC |
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| End Page 2, but December 19th Continues on Page 3 (at 4:05 PM) |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 3 for the continuation and conclusion of this Mt. Takao and "Diamond Fuji" adventure. |
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