I miss Japan! Unfortunately, I won’t be traveling there this summer 😢, but perhaps next year! I took this photo from the Tsutenkaku observation deck. In it you can see the tallest building in Osaka prefecture, “Abeno Harukas”.
One thing I love when traveling in Japan is that my wife (who was born and raised in Kansai area of Japan) really takes care of us and we get to do lots of cool things. It’s kind of like we have a tour guide wherever we go! She treats us so well, and for that I am truly grateful. 🙇 You know, I would be happy just hanging out in the city during our visits, but my wife often takes us around the country to see new places (and eat local foods). It’s kind of surprising for me (as someone who grew up in the U.S.) to realize that there are so many regional differences throughout the country of Japan. I love it! So much to explore… 🇯🇵
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO5000 USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going? Did you have a good Valentines Day?
I mentioned that I was looking forward to sleeping late today, but I forgot that I had to wake up early in order to buy Valentines flowers for my wife. So I was at the store at 7 am but didn’t find a good flower arrangement, so instead I bought roses and baby’s breath and created my own arrangement. It’s the first time in my life that I ever had to do that, but thankfully there are some helpful videos on YouTube that show how to create a decent-looking flower arrangement. I think it turned out pretty good! Sorry, no photos today, but perhaps tomorrow I will post one of my creation.
Happily, my wife liked the flowers. 😃 The rest of the day was spent cleaning the house and relaxing, and then after dinner and chocolate fondue (our Valentines tradition), we watched a movie called “The Walk”. It is about the wire walker who tight-rope walked between the Twin Towers. I thought the movie was enjoyable, but not spectacular. The special effects (recreating the views of the towers and of New York) were pretty amazing, however. That was really cool!
Well, the weekend is just about over, but let’s do our best this week!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 23.3mm, f/4.5, 1/40 sec, ISO6400 USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
It’s been a while since I’ve made a Fuchico photo. Here’s the classic フチ子. For those of you who don’t know, Fuchico or “Fuchico on the cup” is a series of small plastic toys of an office worker named Fuchico who sits on the rims of cups. The one in the photo is the original, but since then, there have been so many different poses, outfits, and spinoffs. It’s cool because these little figurines make the photos a lot of fun! Here’s another one of my favorites that I took.
Recently, my wife showed me this video of SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi trying to recreate some of the Fuchico poses. It’s so funny. Enjoy!
This is a photo I took during my last trip to Japan. We took a tour of Kyushu, the southern part of the country. It was beautiful in the summertime!
Speaking of photos, I have created a page called “Personal Photo Documentary”. Since I started taking daily pictures, I thought it might be nice to put them all in one gallery. So now if you don’t want to read the daily post, you can just go the the photo page and see the latest pictures that I have made. You can get to the page using the navigation at the top of the site, in the Photography drop-down menu. I hope you enjoy!
I posted the photo below to my Instagram account and it got me thinking about why I pared down the amount of camera gear I use. It’s kind of a shift in thinking for me that has taken place the last year. I am now completely satisfied with “good enough”.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 26.5mm, f/6.4, 1/55 sec, ISO3200 “My 2016 Camera Kit” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
I have already blogged a bit about the benefits of simplifying the amount of camera gear I use, but one of the reasons why I can do it (and still be happy) is that the cameras in the photo are “good enough” for what I want to photograph. Specifically, the size of the images is more than enough for me. When I was using my Konica-Minolta 7D DSLR, I was already satisifed with 6 megapixels! My wishlist for future cameras just included low-light sensitivity.
When I upgraded to the Sony A77, the 24 megapixel images were huge, especially when I started shooting RAW! I realize now that it was overkill for my shooting style. And that is the important part… each person’s shooting style should dictate what camera they should use. For instance, I don’t shoot sports so I don’t have need for high-frame-rates. My X100T can shoot at 6 FPS which is “good enough”. I do not photograph wildlife or birds so I do not need a long telephoto lens. If I need to get closer, I have my legs. That is “good enough”. My photos will not be used on billboards so I do not need a 50 megapixel sensor. My cameras have 16 and 12 megapixels. And that is more than “good enough”.
So, what is the benefit of settling for “good enough”? Well, in the case of the camera, I am no longer suffering from “GAS” which stand for “Gear Acquisition Syndrome”. I don’t need to think about upgrading any longer. Sure, it is still fun to see the new cameras and technological advances, but now all of these new things do not have the pull on me that they once did. I actually think to myself how nice it is to NOT have the desire for the newest gear. I really feels great! And it is nice for my wallet too!
So now that I have experienced that with my camera gear, I am trying to think of how to apply the “good enough” philosophy to the rest of my life. I haven’t thought too much about it yet, but I am excited to see what unfolds.
I believe everyone should think about what is “good enough” for themselves, and not worry about maximizing on everything. Just use what makes you happy, then let go of the desire to buy more stuff. Enjoy what you have!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO1600 “Prints” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
こんばんは！Hi everyone.
It’s Sunday night and I am sad the weekend is almost over. My kids have a holiday tomorrow so they can relax one more day. Lucky them!
Today I printed a few photos using our inkjet printer. I’ve been having a lot of fun with my Instax printer and have neglected the regular inkjet, but the inkjet makes some really lovely prints. The color, sharpness and vibrance is much better than the Instax prints, but the instant film has a lot more charm. I like them both! We have an inexpensive Canon PIXMA MG7120 which is really convenient, but the Canon ink is expensive. I recently bought some Skia Ink Cartridges which were rated pretty good, and the prints I made today (in the photo above) came out great! I have asked Mariko to look for some nice frames for the 4×6 size so we can display them. You know, it’s convenient to view the digital photos online, but a real print or instax/polaroid that you can hold in your hand is a much richer experience IMHO.
Well, that’s it for now. I need to get some good rest tonight because it is going to be a busy work week!
おやすみなさい！Take care and stay warm!
-B
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
