Amami Superman Photography

Well, first off, I would like to apologize for not posting in two weeks. After doing my taxes I was pretty tired and I felt I was sitting in front of my computer too much. I had to get out and do something different. I still took my camera out and took photos, but I didn't upload them to my computer until my SD card was full. And even then, I didn't go through and look at the photos I took.

It's spring break here in Japan and it's also the beginning of a new school year soon and work has finally slowed down just a bit.

While taking a break from posting, I got caught up on things I've been meaning to get around to like working on my Honda Civic and a few other projects. My brother-in-law has a Yamaha TW and it's been sitting here at the house under a cover for more than 5 years. I decided to get that out and do a little maintenance on it. After ordering some new parts and replacing the old ones and buying some insurance, I got it running in good working order. I also hosted a few more barbecues for some family and friends, went to the beach a few times and took Jade out to a few place on the Yamaha TW. Jade has never ridden on a bike before and she really got a blast out of it. I took photos of some of the things we did and I'll post those a little later. For the time being, I'll pick up where I left off my posting.

In my previous post I got to try out my friend's AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 IF-ED. I thought it was a pretty nice lens but I only snapped a few shots with it out in front of his shop. These are the shots I got with my 55-200mm lens.

So those are some of the many photos I took of this bird. It was fun and I got some more good panning practice in.

In my previous posts I talked about my walk to my friend Toshi Nagai's photo shop. He recenly bought a AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED, of which I am completely jealous. Anyway! He had a AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens sitting out and I asked if I could try it out on my D60. He said sure so I slapped it on and went outside his shop to shoot a few photos. This is what I got.

These last few photos were something I thought would be nice but they weren't really that nice. But, I thought I would share them with you anyways. It was a pretty bird, but I thought I could have done better.

After returning his lens, it was lunch time and I headed out to walk back home. We had plans to go out in the afternoon to take some photos which I posted here. When I left, the crane was still there and I decided to take some more shots using my 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6 zoom lens, which I'll share in my next post.

This is a continuation of my last post of my walk to my friend Toshi Nagai's photo shop. I took a bunch of photos of the different cats I came across but there were so many of them, I chose just a few to share in this post.

For some strange reason, these photos reminded me of the fairy tale of the Pied Piper. Although in the tale of the Pied Piper, the animals he enchanted to follow him were mice, there were so many cats out today and it kind of reminded me of that.

In the bright sunlight of this day, this cat looked a like it had a bit of brown in the color of its fur. When it was in the shadows, it looked completely black.

Most places here in Amami have nets and cages to put your trash in for the trash collectors to pick up, but some places like this still don't have such things. The crows congregate and tear open the trash bags scattering trash across the street which leads to awful messes. This isn't a problem just here in Amami, but all of Japan.

So those were just a few more of the photos I took on my way to my friend's photo shop. There's more to come.

After the terrible weather we've been having, it finally cleared up to some fantastic weather. This morning I decided to try some street photography and took a walk to my friend's photo shop. I took loads of photos on to the way to his shop, which I'll save for later posts.

My friend's name is Toshi Nagai. I met him through gym khana and street racing years ago when I first game to Amami Oshima. His father was a photographer and he followed in his father's photo steps. His father passed away about the time I came to Amami when he took over the family business. He's been into photography since he was in junior high school. He went to college studying photography (I think), and worked in photography in Fukuoka before he returned to Amami. I've looked though some of his earlier photos and, to say the least, he is an inspiration to me. Now that his job is taking photos, it's tough for him to enjoy photography like I do as a hobby. But, with a little coax, I got him to come with me a few times to go out and take some photos.

I also got him to buy Lightroom 2 and he's recently been trying to learn how to use that. Up until now, he's mostly done all his work using Photoshop. His Photoshop techniques greatly outweigh mine, but I've been trying to help him learn how to use Lightroom.

As we were sitting there talking about photography and Lightroom, I couldn't get over my urge to go out and take photos in the nice weather we were having. I asked him if he wouldn't come out with me and take some photos in the afternoon and he said he would. AWESOME!

We decided to go out and take some photos of a dam just south of the main city of Amami. It was about a 30 minute drive so we didn't spend too much time getting there. On the way up the mountain, we came across a bridge and a waterfall. We decided to stop and take some photos of it, but, instead of the waterfall above the bridge, we hiked down below the bridge and got some of these shots. This first and second photo is mine. I couldn't decide which one I like. The second one had the sun shining down but I couldn't decide if I like that or not. I ended up posting both photos.

So those were some of the photos I took today of Nagai's and my trek to a dam. I'll post more of the other photos I took from this day in other posts.

I can't tell you enough just how much I love tax season. It's my ultimate goal in life to be bald and fat with a hairy back. I'm already fat and I'm working on the hairy back, but my hair just won't fall out. But, thanks to tax season this year, my dream is starting to come true. Life couldn't be better!

I've been having such a blast doing my taxes. The tax people must have read my mind this year and sent me a Japanese 2009 Income Tax Guide instead of the one in English they usually send every year. I've been getting a bit bored with taxes over the years and I was looking for a new challenge. Having the guide in Japanese is an added extra bonus. Maybe next year they could send it to me in Korean or Chinese!

I was having so much fun doing my taxes over the past couple of days that my wife thought I was having too much fun and told me to take a break and go outside and play. "Awww, do I have to?" She was pretty stern so I grabbed my camera gear and went for a drive.

I was trying to find a shot of something that I could use as a scale to show just how big the waves were. I decided to use my car. The only problem was this spot was probably the windiest and I couldn't hold the camera still for the life of me. This was about the best shot I got.

So those were the photos I took on my drive yesterday. Although I was upset at my wife for making me go outside to play and not letting me do my taxes, I forgive her. I think she's just jealous I get to have all the fun.

I took this photo because I'm pretty sure they don't have very many of these kinds of fire hydrants here in Amami. Most fire hydrants here are no more than small skinny pipes 4 to 5 inches in diameter sticking up out of the ground. To see a fire hydrant this big in America is regular, but this is the only one I know of here in Amami.

The kanji on the front of the hydrant, "消火栓", says shokasen; which means, "fire hydrant".

Here is a photo of a fire hydrant just around the corner near my house. Most of the ones here in Amami are similar to this.

The first photo was taken while I was on my way to setsubun at Takachiho Shrine last month. The above photo was taken this morning for something to compare the first to.

Most of my friends know me for a few things; cars, bikes and my barbecues (and hopefully my photography). I'm the kind of person that will decided to have a barbecue at the drop of a hat. I imagine they have propane gas grills in Japan, but I've never seen one. We barbecue over real charcoal wood, not the briquettes you buy in the supermarkets in America. There's not much difference except they're a pain to get lit. Once lit, they'll burn for hours.

When my wife and I were out shopping, we couldn't decided what we wanted to make for dinner. Chicken was on sale so I bought a few backs of that with some vegetables and decided to make kebabs.

Kenshin was just finishing up with work when I called him and he was delighted to come over and have some barbecue. I've known Kenshin now for over 10 years. He's a good friend.

Well, that was my first barbecue of the year and I imagine it's not going to be the last. Next time, I'm thinking of buying real 100% lean ground beef and barbecuing up some hamburgers with American barbecue sauce. I think my friends and family would like that.