Too early Spring ?

In the day time, it was so sunny and warm —– so,

one of my friend came over and we popped out to the park.

Though every where, the grass was water logged by the record amount

of the rain (500 mm for this winter) still, Crocus started the flower.

Then we found this flower. —– ? ? ?  

It can be a cherry but my guess was a Peach —– too early still.

Those flowers may not be too early.  

Left seems to be an Apricot (Japanese equivalent of Ume)  and

the right Photo seems to be a Kanzakura (Winter Cherry).

Still, I don’t think even now is not an appropriate time for

this Haney Bee to come out.

Crocus seems to be the second earliest flower to come out.

= First one is the Snow-drop, then after Crocus,  Daffodil start to flower. 

In distance, I realized that there is a quite tall Winter Cherry.  

—– but instead to walk-up, I took photo of it with 500 mm lens.  😀

Like last year, this Spring-like Climate might be a false and the cold

spell may back again —– any how this is the England !

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Deptford — Art or Odd ?

In south-east London, just before the Thames River reaches to Greenwich,

it is the Deptford.  Unlike the posh Greenwich, this part of Lewisham is

rather poor area = hence lots of artists (I guess, rather poor artists) are

living in this area =  And it creating very distinctive atmosphere here

though, I wouldn’t necessary say it is artistic, but definitely it is odd.  🙂

Next to the Deptford open market, the Albany Theatre is

one of the center of the Community Art activity.

But half of the market is a Flea Market = or some might say junk heap.

Therefore, to distinguish Deptford’s  “distinctiveness” = whether it is

art or junk is a difficult task.  😀  Photo above left is — can you guess,

it’s a tattoo shop !

The area having quite a number of Vietnamese population hence

many Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant as well. 

And number of Charity shops (or junk shop). —– Important point is,

they were sold to the grown-ups, not to the children.

On the table, Permanent flower in a glass jar = What a great idea !

—– I’m wondering, who got a courage to cut a hair there ?

—– or the population here loves a joke so much ?

And so-called Laughing Buddha (Chinese Putai = Taoism figure, nothing

to do with Buddhism) must be a warning of obese in the restaurant.  🙂 

They are the Wedding cake kind ! = What a fantastic idea again !

So, where ever you go, ART (sort) is everywhere.

This is what Deptford is !

(Photo Right is, the entrance to the Site-office of construction site !

= not a joke ! )

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Camera Shake / Resonance of Tripod

On the previous post, the top photo taken by 200 mm Lens which was

held against the Camera body, was inevitably shaky and couldn’t been

properly focused.  When I realized that there is Catkins, I set-up a tripod

and 500 mm lens —– but after few clicks, I discovered that the photos

were utterly fuzzy.  => I increased ISO speed hence shutter speed,  still

the situation wasn’t get any better.     

Have look the information of the photo,  left bottom under the Histogram =

O mm lens mean Non-Canon lens, ISO 1600 and Shutter speed  1/2500 Sec.  

This was not off-focused image. ( no double line, typical to Mirror lens there) 

As the photo on the tripod showed the funny shake, I resorted with

hand held.  And strangely (you say), it produced much sharper image.

This time,  ISO 400 and the Shutter speed was  1/ 320. 

It was well known only to few people = a Shake caused by the Resonating

equipment. = In here, 500 mm lens, Canon 5D, and Gitzo Reporter Tripod

almost fully extended has happened to resonated and gave very fine vibration.

(If the extension of the tripod was shortened, there may not be a vibration.

= that is the tricky part of the  [Resonance] = hard to predict though, it is

possible to test => hit the set-up of the tripod with a stick and listen the

sound = if they makes good long sound “Boom” = Resonation suspected ! )

The photo above (heavily clopped image) by the

Tamron 500 mm Mirror lens,  hand held and  

ISO 1600, the Shutter speed was  1/8000 ! = I like a glare of branches.

(Human body is a dumper = wouldn’t resonates —– thanks goodness !)

May be I should find the frequency of this resonating vibration, because

Anti-Vibration system in the lens may not have an effect to higher frequency.

(I tested it with Anti-vibration of 70~200 F2.8 lens though as it got totally

different weight and the balance, the same resonance wasn’t replicated.)

May be I should talk about the Tripod in near future.

[]

Catkins on Alder Tree

Few days ago, I gave a peek to a broken Sony DSLR lens through Canon 5D

and saw it still works as a  200 mm optics.  —– then, I realized, what I saw

was not just a shape of a winter tree.  —– It’s Catkins there already !

With a serious attempt, I took picture of it with 500 mm lens on a tripod.

Yes, in deed it was the Catkins. = Without having any serious cold spell,

London started to have a Spring. —– I wouldn’t say I like cold but,

I believe the nature needs it as a cycle. 

The lens I was playing was the one I bought for £10 as a broken junk =

Sony-Minolta’s 18-200 mm Zoom lens, which has been seemingly dropped

and the barrel was broken into pieces. —– Still, amazingly, the main optics

kept its integrity and maintained its function = it can Zoom, and focus,

F-aperture is still working (though, setting only from the body side).

Since the Sony DSLR lens has Flange-back 44.5mm, to focus a bit forward

(in fact, 0.5mm exact) can give an infinity focus on Canon EOS body.

With some test shot, I was pretty impressed with its clever design and the

resilience = It’s a broken lens though, it is still usable as 18 mm to

200 mm lens. (with certain manual improvisation ! )

[] 

(Photo Left / Edge of the Lens was welded.   Center / Screw mounted Lens.  

Photo Right / Pincer Tool for the Lens mount ring.  This tool

called “Kanime” in Japan was given by the Pentax (Asahi-Kogaku)

—– Code of the tool = AK-1-1-LA means Asahi-Kogaku-1-1-Lens Assembly

when I had an exhibition in their Gallery in Tokyo )

But because it was made using  “Hot stamp” (drop a lens into plastic barrel

then heat seal) it was not expected to be disassembled and it was very hard

to modify and re-use.  —– I’m thinking what to use or making out of it ?

(Use for projection kind may be interesting, as the lens got

more than x11 times Zooming ratio.) 

[]

Kan-zakura = Winter-cherry

Cherry blossom in this time of year ? —– you might say.  

But this is not fake or old photo.  This is real though —— 

In reality, actual looks of the cherry is far from Photogenic isn’t it.

= Whitish cherry flower has to stand out under the deep blue sky.

When the flower was under the bright sun-light, the pupil of

our eyes close, hence the sky behind became looks darker.

(It is the same situation of the bright snow-scape, sun and the sky is 

the same though, if the foreground is bright, the sky looks darker)

But when bright sun-light is not available —– why not make one.  😀

So, this is a photography,  completely opposite of the previous post

[What’s there ?] and the recent post such as [Fort’Mason’s —] where

I talked about “What is real or looked as it is” —– instead, here I tried

to create or falsify “Ideal image” with intentional manipulation.   🙂

So, I used a flash-light to brighten-up the flowers = F-aperture was

set for correct exposure for the flowers,  but the shutter speed was

set to make under-exposure for the sky. (make it looks darker)

Took advantage of flash-light,  I took the same flower’s photo

with Double-Density Pinhole.

Pinhole photography sound natural though, in reality, as it needs to give

rather long exposure, it is not necessary good for flower photography.  

( with wind, they move too much.  😀 )  

Use flush-light would be one of the answer. = So, this is an artificial 

creation of an artificial silk flower by Double-Density Pinhole photography

which satisfy my stereotypical idea of “What fluffy flowers should be” 🙂

[]

Season’s greeting 2014

How the 2013 has been for you ?  

I hope it was a pretty productive year for you.

For me while blogging, do something, see the friends etc etc

2013 has gone almost instant !

(Still in a hind sight there were so many things had happened ! ) 

So, it’s always the question —– have I done enough ?

—– May be.  —– In middle way.   Ha ha ha  😀

(Or, I might have done quite drastic.  🙂 )  

What so ever —– we have to see the next stage. = Let’s face it.

And I wish your best happiness in the coming new year. 

—– Hold the breath, listen !   —– You know, it’s coming.  

( —– —– Tap tap tap ! —- Ha ha ha.   I’m kidding)

[]

Winter Cherry again !

This is the third year for me watching this special Cherry tree !

Special because she blooms in the winter, and keep blooming until

their more usual blooming time of April.  (Continuously all through

6 months.  So that I even wrongly called her Perpetual Cherry !)

And, this is the first photo session for this season despite only

few flowers there yet.     (More would be added here later.  🙂 )

So, say hello to Cherry-san. 

(PS: Close-up was done by the same Fish-eye lens, while lens was 

held lifted from the body = held the lens not fully inserted to the

body (hence close focus) = and the lens was not fully engaged to

the body, there was no control to the lens = aperture was F4   🙂 )

[]

Last Remain of Flowers —– of this year ?

When I was a bit younger and in business, there was a phrase “4 o’clock irritation”.

= before closing time, something could still be done —– otherwise, became too late,  

so, what has been done, haven’t been done etc ETC ! —– You know what I mean  😀

—– And coming to the time 4 o’clock in my life, I have to do the stock-taking.

= And in the same context (Useless thinking in Buddhist’s term  😀 ) see the nature

and feel  “Oh, you still giving your effort” — but with sigh.

Don’t think.  Just see as they are.

Some might have done the work.  More than enough or just — what ever

it was a given opportunity and only an opportunity.

(What a bloody hell, Xmas is next month —- I thought,

Xmas was yesterday !)  😀  😀

[]

Flower of Fig-titiosa

  With a request of HM Bente, a servant,

Plant Hunter, Yoshizen took an expedition

to find an elusive legendary flower of Fig.

After a great journey and the hard work,

he discovered it and brought back a flower

for the world to see it, first ever the time

in the history of mankind.

(though, this photograph was too

over-saturated, hence the color is not

very faithful representation of  its nature.

—— you are better advised to refer to the next photo.  🙂 )

The formal name of this plant is  [Ficus. Figtitiosa var Brag]    !

Yes, honest, this is nothing other than the Flower of the Fig.

You got open your mind and the eyes. —– Convinced ?  

(A wise advice is, eat this with a pinch of salt.)  😉

[]

Figs

Before Marks and Spenser started to sell more civilized products like a Wonder Bra etc.

the Figs said to be widely utilized though, I haven’t seen any of them in use, other than on

a very decent ancient sculpture wearing it. —– Anyhow I’m not a very fashion conscious

person, I’m more interested in its edible part.

[]

Fig is a very peculiar plant.   Apparently it doesn’t have a flower still makes a fruits.

So that, in Japan they are called “Ichijiku” but to write its name in the Chinese character it is

[無花果] which mean “The Flowerless Fruits” though, its reading makes no “Ichijiku” at all.

Because of this, long since I’ve been wondering where this name “Ichijiku” derived from ?  

Then, one day on a street market, I saw a fruits vendor selling the Figs.

And I knew a man working there was a Kurdish.   I asked him, how they call Figs in their

country ?   He taught me it is “Injee” —– With flash of light, I realized, this must be the

origin of the Japanese name “Ichijiku”.

[]

Fig is one of the biblical ancient fruits together with Grape, and originated from middle east.

Hence all over the Orient, Turkey to Persia, Egypt,  Fig was commonly called Injee.

And it must came to China and to Japan through Central Asia = via Silk-road.   So, I refer to a

Chinese Dictionary to see what is the Chinese name of Fig —– it was [映日果], which reading

in Mandarin is In-lee-quo, but local pronunciation is more like In-jee-quo which was a direct

copy of the original sound to Chinese character, and an additional letter, [果] quo, to indicate

a fruits.  (Like the name of  Japan / [日本], which reading in Mandarin is Lee-pen though, other

locals read it Jee-peng = So that, Marko Paolo wrote it down as Jipang hence Japan !)

From here it’s easy to see, a Chinese pronunciation “Injee-quo” has been changed to “Ichijiku”

= One long standing question was solved !

[]

But, without having a flower, how Fig can reproduce themselves ? —– As a matter of fact,

they are not flowerless plant at all, far from it, the fruits we are eating is nothing but a

compacted pile of tiny flowers.  Hence, you can see numerous tiny seeds inside of Fig.

The seed was produced by the individual tiny flowers even more numerous than the seeds.

Those flowers were individually pollinated by also tiny Fig-wasp who came inside of a Fig

through small hole in the centre of fruits. —– Of cause, Fig-wasp was not come to a Fig to

pollinate but to mate and lay the eggs.   (There are many different wasps which got different

life cycle —– some stay inside waiting the male wasp to come and fertilize her, and she lay

eggs there, and larvae grow in the Fig and male dies there.   Some other wasps are came

and lay the eggs and their larvae are carnivorous and eat other wasp’s larvae. —– so on.)

[]

—– therefore, when we eat Figs, whether fresh or such as a Fig Roll, we are inevitably

eating the Fig-wasps as well.   (In effect, it supply the Essential Amino-acid to the strict

vegetarian people = that is why they don’t die with rack of “Essential nutrition”.

Though, you don’t need to become nervous, since this situation is quite normal and common

= can you expect any mass-produced food such as Jam, Marmalade, Ketchup, what so ever =

which track-load of ingredients thrown-into a belt-conveyor, and is there anybody removing

the small insect and their tiny larvae comes with ? )  (Unlike Bottle-fly or Cockroach kind, who

is dealing with human derivative, the insects living with fruits are less likely carries the

germ related to the human diseases, hence they are much safer.)

There are many warning of food allergy, Nuts, Eggs, certain Protein etc etc. though I never

heard anybody got ill because of accidentally eat an insect —– may be without knowing,

we are eating them quite regularly, our body may not recognize them as foreign substance.

This is what “living with nature” mean, in its reality.  😀  

This link may give you the idea, what is the situation.

http://www.rodalenews.com/bugs-food

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PS :  Incidentally, the Boddhi-tree [Ficus, religiosa]

 of which Shakya-Muni Buddha said to have reached 

his Enlightenment,  known locally as Peepal or

Pippal tree also belong to the same family / genus.        

(Photo Right from Wiki media)

So, the Boddhi-tree is a small fruits version of Fig tree

hence has no flower.  Despite the tree can reach up to

30 m, their fruits is not larger than a tip of finger.

( I do yet know how small the Fig-Wasp for this tree. —– Nearly 100 million years of

co-evolution, each species of Fig has their own gang of the Wasp species, otherwise

both of them would have had extinct long ago ! )

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