Friday, July 31, 2015

Scenes from Summer

The simple fact of the matter is that as often as possible I go out and take pictures of whatever interests me; and almost everything interests me. So, here are some images from the last two weekends.

Early morning at Misaki fishing port.


Not far from the waterfront is a morning market.


Shifting gears, and location, The point where the Ookagawa river flows into the sea.

Bringing in a big one to Osanbashi passenger terminal.

Even though it was hot out here, there was a nice breeze to help make it bearable.

A boy, a girl, a ship!

People make the most of the interesting background.

A summer place in the park.


Things are a lot cooler in the underground subway station.

The sun blazes down on Horinochi station.

Mother and daughter are inseparable today.

A beautiful summer yukata. I rarely see a red pattern like this.

Like I said, everything is interesting to me.

Taking it to the street.

Like a clip on a wire
A lamp post lights desire
Such is the neighborhood,
Where we are
Perhaps we strayed,
A bit to far

The back streets of Yoshida-cho...

...dreary by day, paradise at night.

One doesn't always want to see things too clearly.

The centerpiece of Yamashita park. The shooting water of the fountain gives everyone a momentary sense of being at an oasis in the middle of a desert.

And, then reality quickly returns as we sizzle under the sun.

A birds eye view in Motomachi.

Don't stop moving or you'll melt.

Last shot of the day, last shot for the month of July. A race between woman and machine.

See you in August. And, as always - thanks for stopping by!
Mike

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Zeiss 35mm f2.8 C Biogon Lens & Sony A7II camera

I picked up a new lens yesterday; the  Zeiss 35mm f2.8 C Biogon T* (M mount) manual focus (silver color). In this day of faster and faster lenses, a f2.8 lens seems like an unlikely choice but for me I'm finding that a fast lens is not really necessary for my typical style of photography. Anyway, as soon as I got it I slapped it on my Sony A7II and headed out to my usual haunts to see what this lens was and wasn't capable of.

Anyone who frequents my blog will probable be familiar with many of these scenes; what can I say this is the the most convenient area for a quick test of a new lens.

Shot at f4. Not bad shallow depth of field for a f2.8 lens.

I find the simplest things interesting.

As one can see by the shadows, the sun is pretty strong today.

These girls were moving instruments to the waterfront in preparation for an outdoor concert.

A parasol is certainly a good idea for a fair skinned beauty today.

Love is touch, touch is love
Love is reaching, reaching love
Love is asking to be loved
-- John Lennon 

Love is holding hands

The traditional Yokohama landscape (cityscape) scene.

I'm usually more of a 50mm lens guy but the 35mm perspective is working  quite well for me today.

Another standard waterfront image. To bad the sky isn't a bit bluer today. Oh well, at least it's not raining (knock on wood).

And, here on Osanbashi we have plenty of wood to knock on.

As I was looking through the view finder framing my next shot this fellow dashed right in front of me and I think he was trying to tell me something about myself or my photography :-) . The first rule of photography - don't pay attention to the critics.

Put a coin in and take a look.

A couple in total agreement on which way to go.

There's a lot of history in Yokohama and the King, Queen and Jack are a part of it.

I'm really liking this lens as I descend inside of Osanbashi.

It's nice and cool in here; dark too! A simple message to visitors to Yokohama.

More standard waterfront photography.

I sure love a parade and they were playing an old favorite of mine "Anchors Aweigh", it almost brought a tear to my old seafarers eye.

Okay, we're putting the "street" back into street photography.

Big crosswalk.

Day 2, same lens: the next morning we got up early and went to the Misaki morning market. While Emi was shopping I decided to check out the pier-side action.

They must have hooked a big one, it's taking 2 of them to reel it in.

6:00 o-clock in the morning and this place is filled with people.

People are lined up to get some hot grilled tuna and some seafood soup for breakfast.

Watermelons!

Watermelons, corn, eggplant. squash, tomatoes... this is the place to be!

You name it, they got it - and - the prices are reasonable (cheap) too.

The watermelon woman.

Heck, they're selling peanuts. What more could one want?

Well, that's it for the first batch of pictures with this lens. I had a lot of fun shooting this 35mm lens and I'm already looking forward to my next outing with it.

Thanks for stopping by!
Mike