Delight

A rare sight in Tokyo.

A kiss goodnight

Fujisan can't often be seen from Tokyo, but on clear winter days it occasionally makes an appearance. On a spring-like Valentines Day, it became visible just before sunset.

Taken with a Nikon D300/Tamron 200-500mm (@500mm) from Tamagawadai Park, Tokyo.

Orion, the Hunter

On a cold, windy night (for Tokyo) under a nearly full moon along the Tamagawa (Tama River). The lack of 4 real seasons in Tokyo makes cold, numb, fingers a rare, and pleasurable experience. One can even occasionally see stars, but that night the "cold" was the reason for going.

Trouble coming

From 2007 at Utsukushigahara in Nagano.

An evening in Kanagawa

Shinmaruko across the Tama River from Tokyo

Off Camera lighting

A new group on Flickr has opened called Tokyo Strobist. Tokyo Strobist is based on the original Strobist Flickr pool and will hopefully give interested folks in Japan an opportunity to learn, practice, and show off-camera lighting techniques in either English or Japanese. If enough people are interested, there might even be some meetings in the future.

The photo above used off-camera lighting of a different sort. The dams were closed on the Tamagawa, the river that separates Tokyo and Kanagawa, making the river surface as smooth as glass. (They have done this for several weeks in a row now on Sundays.) It is of Shinmaruko in Kanagawa taken from the Tokyo side of the river.

Late autumn in Okusawa, Tokyo

Tokyo has more houses and building covered in vines than I have seen in any other city.

Some of the most relatively "tame" gulls I've seen are near Yokohama Bay

Landmark Tower, Yokohama

The tallest building in Japan, I believe.

Yokohama Bay 2

Friday evening just before sunset. "Sunset" tends to come relatively early in spots as the buildings block the sun as it get lower. D300 Tmaron 200-500mm @ 500

Yokohama Bay

Friday afternoon at Yokohama Bay in the Minatomirai area. One of the most beautiful locations in Tokyo/Yokohama.

The end of the day

Tamagawa river between Tamagawadaikoen and Shinmaruko, Tokyo/Kanagawa, Japan. Taken with the D300 and Tamron 200-500mm@500mm.

So far, the latest firmware update has made the camera a different beast concerning autofocus. It isn't perfect, but finally I can feel confident using any autofocus mode under certain conditions. It also focuses much more quickly, even with the Tamron 200-500. Birds in flight are now much, much easier to get. It's almost like having a new camera. Knock on wood.