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posted: April 30th, 2010 |
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This page begins with April 3rd, a trip around the neighborhood at night taking photos of Cherry Blossoms. It then continues with April 4th and an outing to celebrate the Cherry Blossom Season around this immediate area. The next adventure was by Kazuya on April 9th (I had to work that day and he did not). He went to Yamanashi Prefecture and visited a HUGE 2,000 year old Cherry Tree (Rows 9 & 10). On April 10th we went to Yamanashi Prefecture and Yamanashi City together and visited the Peach Orchards and also found some more beautiful Cherry Trees. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin April 3rd and 4th |
On the night of April 3rd Kazuya and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and took some photos of Cherry Blossoms using our flash. That is kind of fun - you don't know for sure what you'll end up with. Here are 3 of the best - one by me and 2 by Kazuya.
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Then, on the 4th we went out on our bicycles for our annual "HANAMI - which translates as "flower viewing". It is always used in reference to Cherry Blossom season only though. This is the time when the Cherry Blossoms are at their peak and people go out with a picnic lunch and eat and drink under the Cherry Trees. We go to the same places every year. This year the weather was not so great - it was mostly cloudy all day, but at least it didn't rain. Here are 3 photos taken on the ICU (International Christian University) campus, very near our home. These are all pink flowers in this row.
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In this row you can see 2 relatively close up shots and a shot at the center of the ICU campus.
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These 3 shots are all taken from near the campus center, looking back down the main entry road towards the main gate. The 3rd shot is zoomed to quite an extent, so you can easily see the foreshortening which is caused by a telephoto lens.
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Here is a final shot on the entry road - this was about the only moment all day long when the sun actually shined. The 2nd and 3rd shots are Viola grypoceras f. variegata - you can easily see why this is forma variegata, as the red veins in the leaves really show up good.
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Here is a final shot of Viola grypoceras f. variegata. The 2nd shot is very near the Place in Musashino Park where we sat under the blossoms and ate our lunch and drank our fine "Kami-no-Itazura" (God's Prank) Sake. The 3rd shot is a close up of some blossoms and this shot has been enhanced with Shadow Illuminator Pro.
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The first 2 shots in this row are of a bi-colored Cherry Tree - these are very uncommon. The 3rd shot is a very interesting Hamamelis sp.
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Here is a shot of Kazuya under a cherry tree - nice smile! The 2nd shot is in Nogawa Park and I used two photos to create this "High Dynamic Range" photo using Photomatix Pro 3.2 Software. The 3rd shot, the final one of the day, is a final Pink Flowered Cherry Tree.
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| End April 3rd and 4th, Begin April 9th |
Kazuya visited Yamanashi Prefecture alone on April 9th because I had to work on that day. He went to Nirasaki and visited this 2,000 year old Cherry Tree (see below). You can see that it has many poles to hold it up, but it is very impressive. Both of these photos have been enhanced with Shadow Illuminator Pro to reduce the blackness of the trunk and make it visible.
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Here is a photo of the 2,000 year old Cherry Tree from a different angle. The 2nd photo was taken from the train window - a very nice cherry tree. I used Photoshop to remove some high-tension wires which were in the upper portion of this photo.
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| End April 9th, Begin April 10th |
On Saturday, April 10th, we went to Yamanashi Prefecture together and got off the train at Yamanashi City. We took a bus up towards the Hotarakashi Hot Spring and got off at the "Fruits Center". The 2nd photo is actually the first photo taken - it is a peach tree in front of Yamanashi City Train Station. The 1st photo was taken from up on the mountain near the "Fruits Center" and it looks back down towards the city. Look at all of the Peach Trees in bloom. This shot was Tone-Mapped - using 3 shots. The pink did not show at all in any of the single photos. The 3rd shot is a close shot of a Peach Tree branch.
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The first shot in this row is an extremely beautiful group of cherry trees. It has been enhanced with Shadow Illuminator Pro. The 2nd shot is another beautiful cherry tree and has also been enhanced with Shadow Illuminator Pro. The 3rd shot is another shot looking down into the valley, well, actually it is 3 shots Tone-Mapped into one photo so that the pink will show up.
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Here are 2 more shots showing the pink peach blossoms. They are each Tone-Mapped from a single photo. The 3rd shot is at a different place - later in the afternoon we took a train to Katsunuma Budoukyo. The cherry trees were also very beautiful there. This shot has been enhanced with Shadow Illuminator Pro. You may recall that we also went there in January.
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Here are 2 beautiful Peach Blossom Shots at Katsunuma Budoukyo.
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| End April 10th, End Page 1 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 2 for the continuation of this month's adventures. |
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