Tulip tulip (in Focus Shift Photo)
You must feel a sigh of relief — this is normal shot. 🙂
So, this is it. Aren’t they pretty ? 🙂
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Cherry Cherry – 2016
Those photos were from the several Cherry trees,
probably the last cherry photos of this year.
Lens used was that modified Tokina-Wide-Converter
with bellows on Canon 5D Mk-III.
—– Don’t you agree, £1 junk from an Odds n’ Ends box
of a Camera shop wasn’t too bad. 😀
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Ephemeral Evanescence
Beauty in Japanese nature and the people’s life style, well
harmonized with its nature is so famous = so, you may think.
And you may think a famous touristic spot of such as the
Cherry Blossom is naturally there from ancient time.
Well, this IS the biggest paradox or contradiction, even
a trick in the Japanese culture. = Virtually all the famous
Cherry spots are intentionally created by planting the tree
which was artificially grafted and propagated Somei-yoshino.
—– Cherry tree has limited life about 60~100 years.
Therefore, those Cherries of the famous places has been
re-planted 2~3 times since the original Somei-yoshino came.
(simply, when the tree became too big, they brake and fall)
Because of the Somei-yoshino could only be propagated by
grafting, unless the tree was intentionally planted,
it wouldn’t exist there. They are the Created Art.
The situation is the same in those Japanese gardens,
even a garden in the Buddhist temple was “created”
= Still they look like a real landscape in great nature.
(I don’t think, you ever imagined that famous Rock Garden
in the Ryoan-ji temple did naturally exists there. 😀 )
It’s like a Bonsai ! Looks like a great tree in the nature —
though, to create those realistic Bonsai tree, the craftsman
spent 10 even 50 years to shape it. = This IS the Zen.
The most peculiar things in the Japanese culture / Ethos is
such Zen Ethos has been kept not only by the monk or
religious people but by everybody without their conscious.
Zen doesn’t speak. It have to be learned by looking and to
try oneself. Therefore, what learned couldn’t be explained.
(Because they are not aware of it, they don’t talk about,
therefore, foreign journalist could not find and describe it.
= So, the Japanese mind/attitude/Ethos stay in the myth.)
And the Zen Ethos of impermanence/ephemerality, even a
death has been symbolized in the Japanese Cherry Blossom.
( = Beauty in its fall !)
(Hence, lots of Japanese Military establishments having their emblem
with Cherry flower pattern, and their barrack has Cherry garden.
And the Kamikaze suicidal-rocket-bomb made on the last stage of the
last war was named Ouka = 桜花 = Cherry Blossom )
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Zen and its ethos keep driving the Japanese to even more
refinement/improvement = So that, the next generation of
Somei-yoshino is coming as the Jindai-akebono which is
stronger than Somei-yoshino against the virus.
(This new variety of Cherry has been created by crossing the
Edo-higan Zakura and the (almost original) Somei-yoshino
back from Washington USA. Now the Flower Association of
Japan stop to distribute Somei-yoshino and recommending
to plant Jindai-akebono.) (The name Jindai = because it
was established in the Jindai Botanical Garden in Tokyo)
—– to express the beauty and its ephemerality and the tree
to symbolize it = Cherry = and the quest to develop stronger
tree in order to express ephemerality is a real paradox. 😀
[]
Cherry by Soft Lenses
The photos here were taken from the same Cherry tree as
the previous post. (As they are not plain 5 petals flower,
this is not Somei-yoshino)
The softness (? Blur) on the previous post were created by
the Focus-Shift = focused image and the out-of-focus image
were mechanically superimposed on the shot. — But here,
the softness was caused optically by the lens’ aberration.
= Those first 4 photos were taken by the homemade
single glass lens = nicknamed “Gaudy lens” .
Among my homemade lenses, this is the most useful,
easy to use lens.
You may say, the aberration of this lens is too much
though, this is what I wanted. 🙂
Above those two photos, you can see the type of
softness are very different. = The photo above and
the following 3 photos were taken by the modified
(front diverging lens was removed)
Regardless the technical blur blur, all about
the photography (or any art) the matter is the
end result = if it is good, it’s good.
Nothing else. 😀
(And when the result was the same, the cheaper
the cost is the better.)
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Cherry in Focus-Shift blurr
Don’t panic on your eyesight. It’s not your eyes.
The picture here IS shaky ! 😀
The photo above/top was the photo, made by a “Focus-Shift”
(while the shutter was open, the focus has been moved) =
hence created funny blurred image.
The lens used was a specially modified Canon EFS 18~55mm =
(modified to fit onto 5D and its focusing motor has been made
to work with external signal)
—– the photo below was a normal shot for a comparison
(same lens but without focus shift.)
This cherry IS the same tree which I nicknamed the
Perpetual Cherry, since it’s flowering even in the Autumn.
And she was photographed here by the same modified
18~55 mm lens though, this focus-shift technique doesn’t
necessary suit for this shot. 😀
(= so, it’s just a demonstration to see the effect)
Unlike the other soft-focus lens which gives only a fixed
focal-length and it’s viewing angle, this focus-shift
technique with the zoom lens gives more freedom —–
and a fun.
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First Cherry 2016
–
I’ve been closely watching this cherry tree for a past few days.
And at last on yesterday I found a first flower opened on there.
Good heavens, when I went to the tree next day with my
camera, hundred of the flowers were blooming.
(Still, it would be a week away to see it’s full blooming)
There are hundred of different cherries even in this country.
So, a kind of Kan-Zakura (Winter Cherry) has been flowering
already, yet still, this is the first typical Japanese Cherry =
Somei-yoshino’s flower I found.
—– How I can tell this IS the Somei-yoshino was,
(1) The leaves come out only after the flower.
(2) The fertility of the Somei-yoshino was very restrictive =
Somei-Y’ x Somei-Y’ can’t germinate (= with other variety can)
Therefore, we never see the Seedling under the Somei-Y’ tree.
So that, the propagation of Somei-Y’ could only be done by
grafting = Cloning = in other words, ALL the Somei-yoshino in
the world originated from a single tree found in the Somei Village,
a northern corner of Edo (Tokyo), 200 years ago. It’s mean, if the
tree was grown off a seed, it is NOT a Somei-yoshino. (= So, some
Koreans claimed that “That Cherry grow naturally in our country”
is a proof of their ignorance, how they didn’t know the history
NOR biology. = Same kind of ignorance like they claims that the
Chinese-character was invented in Korea. 😀 )
—– What so ever, I’ve been enjoying the bloom on this tree
for the past 15 years ! (But I’m not necessary happy to see the
flowers in such early timing = it’s not even April yet)
(Photos taken by the Tamron 500 mm Mirror Lens/Canon 5D Mk-3)
————————-
And now, the same Cherry have had the full bloom !
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Peach flower
—— (Photo above: taken by a homemade, so-called Gaudy Lens)
Peach flower is much more appreciated in China than in Japan.
In Chinese myth, the famous Shangrila was written as 桃源郷
which mean The place where the Peach Blooming. = (neither
Cherry nor Banana.) The reason why Chinese value Peach more
than Cherry is, not only its juicy fruits but the color of flower is
more reddish.
The color Red mean prosperity and the longevity to the Chinese.
In a stark contrast, Cherry Blossom is the symbol of the ephemeral
life, even the death to the Japanese (in the Buddhists context.) So,
Japanese appreciate its moment of the flower falling like a snow
storm, as well as when it was fully blooming.
——- (Photo above Left : by Canon Fisheye Zoom 8~15mm —
——–Photo Right : Converging Lens from Tokina Wide converter.)
The reason why Chinese likes Red was originated from the vermilion.
Vermilion is the Mercury Oxide = deadly poison = therefore it is a
very effective preservative to the timber. So, the Chinese temple etc
has been painted with Red Vermilion = never rotten for thousand of
years. So, Red Vermilion is the demonstration of the longevity !
And there was a fancy story of the Vermilion, whether it was a
fabrication of the novelist or not, there said to be an Elixir of life made
from Vermilion, which was repeatedly oxidized and deoxidized 9 times,
called 九還丹 in China. (If you found it in the Net, you may try ! )
—— (Photo above : Converging Lens from Tokina)
To the Japanese, the appreciation of Peach flower was in its
association with the girl’s festival (桃の節句) on 3rd of March
other than that not much special feeling in the Japanese mind.
So that, other than in the fruits orchard in a country side,
we don’t see as many Peach trees like Cherry in town .
—— (Photo above : by converging Lens from Tokina
Wide Converter mounted on a Bellows = Photo right
= As the lens was mounted on a bellows, it can focus
from ∞ to 1/3 close-up)
Front element of the Diverging Lens has been used somewhere
else, and the left over converging element was used here. 😀
(You may amazed, how photography can be done in such a casual manner.)
[∞]
Old Camera — Miranda S
Few days ago, one of my friend (in fact, a friend of friend) gave
me an old camera. It was a very early model of SLR (Single Lens
Reflex Camera), Miranda S which was made around 1968~70.
After the World war 2, burnt-down country Japan was recovering
in amazing speed though, the camera such as Nikon, Canon was
producing were the old style Rangefinder Camera — still, those Nikon
which went to the Korean War with the American photographer
was highly praised (only the camera kept working under -40 degree
Korean Winter!) and started to gain good reputations world wide.
In 1962, the Asahi Kogaku produced Asahi Flex, the first 35mm SLR !
(Later, this company started to produce the SLR using penta-prism
— and changed their name to the Pentax.)
[]
The camera I was given, Miranda S was rather like an Asahi Flex, but
not in a perfect condition to work. = winding-up nob was broken — still,
I could test the function by charge-up the shutter by force rotating the
winding-up sprocket, then click the shutter.
The shutter dial was rotating while charge-up and a release moment.
(It’s an old design soon to be disappeared.)
And the mirror was not quick return, neither the iris was automatic.
To see this Design as the starting point = I can see how the later
development came such far !
—– the peculiar things of this camera was, that this one got a waist-level
finder = not a prism view finder. = look down the image which was
left-right reversed ! —– My guess was, that this camera was used by an
academic to take photos through microscope, telescope kind — if not
the owner lost the interchangeable prism finder.
[]
Miranda started to make their camera, called Orion Camera first.
Then, changed the name to Miranda, their Miranda Sensolex model was
sold well (I remember their poster. 🙂 ) —– anyhow, to encounter such
old Japanese camera, exported to the Europe was a big surprise to me.
I may not able to shoot a photo with this camera since its winding-up
shaft was broken, yet still, even just watching 50 years old
mechanism still working was a great joy.
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OMG – Magnolia flowers ?!
London has been having no real winter = no ice, no frost not mention
a snow. And having the flowering Magnolia.
OMG, this is utterly crazy.
Of course, there could be “Special garden variety” of Winter Magnolia
of which I’m utterly ignorant though, this one may not be the case.
Still, this tree had pretty early flowers last year as well.
I do like to break the convention — but this case is not funny.
I like to act brainless though, I have no fun making a fun out of
handicapped person. Especially if it was created by the human error
such as an industrial poisoning.
I hope this magnolia has normal gene though, = if it was the case,
the climate alone was the cause ? — did it got such wrong ?
It’s just a beginning of January.
( —– in here, top photo was taken by the Zeiss 18mm and the
rest were taken by the homemade lens.)
This photo above was an additional comparison, taken
by the specially modified Canon FD 50mm F1.8 while its
focus was shifted during the exposure. = Since the image
of this lens has little aberration and halation (only having
superimposed out-of-focus bokeh) the contrast was
much higher = more glare) = different kind of fuzziness !
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