Dulwich Park — Semi-Fisheye Pinhole-photo

If you try Pinhole Photography on SLR camera, most likely you get

an image of about Standard lens (45~50mm).   In order to get even

wider image I made “Diopt-Pinhole Hybrid System” —– And

I got Semi-Fisheye Pinhole images.  (More details in the next post.)

(In this post, other lens was 15 mm lens.)  

Pinhole itself was “Double Density Pinhole” and on front of pinhole panel,

I mounted very strong concave lens. —– hence, the viewing angle was

determined by the concave lens and the image was created by the Pinhole.

Strong concave lens created quite a distortion too = hence semi-fisheye.

I can take very sharp photo though, it was not my creation.  Simply, the

lens I used was happened to be very sharp, that’s all.  As it was not my make

and available to anybody = anybody use the same lens, the picture would be

sharp.  It is an old crèche situation = “Nice photo !”  “Yes, camera was good”.

I fed-up with nice sharp photo, so, I’m creating rather fuzzy unsharp images

which is definitely my creation and I’m solely responsible.

And this is the first field test of  “Diopt-Pinhole Hybrid Photography” 🙂

(Probably first ever in the world.  😀 ) 

Dulwich is in the walking distance and they got quite few nice old buildings.

Though, I excuse not to provide detailed information of the subjects.

(I only need to test optical effects.)

( I wonder, why Snowdrop has no other than white flower ?

—– Don’t tell me because the snow is always white.  😀 ))

I don’t know, is there anybody actuary living in this “Park warden’s house”?

For a soft focus effect, Double-density Pinhole seemed to be a bit too much

or need to make even smaller, sharper hole.   And the concave lens creates

hopeless halation —– a bit more work was required here.   🙂

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Greenwich Park again — Red Deer

Greenwich Park has a Red Deer enclosure in their south eastern

corner = closer to the back gate.

Unlike its northern part, closer to the Thames , where Royal Naval College,

Royal Observatory are attracting the numerous visitors, its southern part

maintains more natural environment = small pond, dense rhododendron

bush etc etc and naturally we can see many birds, even red deer.

South of the park is the Black Heath area.  Heath mean, the land covered by

the Heather plant. (Well, in the old days.)   Heather is a Elicaseae plant and a

cousin of Rhododendron ! (You believe or not  😀 ) ( Heath looks like this !)

And where ever a natural reserve and a pond, the Birds gathers.  —– and

where ever the Birds gathers, Human forks / Kids coming to feed them.  🙂

(It’s a well established custom of the modern society)

Not so many people thinks to make them a roast duck.  🙂

——– (Photos were taken by Tamron 500 mm SP F8 Mirror lens)

 I was really fascinated by (1) the quality of this 40 years old lens and

(2) how the birds can keep their feather dry ! 

So, the Red Deere here are not for Venison !

Photo above, left was a view of 15 mm lens and in its center, a

white-dot was a Wood Pigeon = photo Right, shot by 800 mm lens. 

The building with clock tower is a very historic old School. (So, I heard )

Sound very dashing but looks pretty miserable building = Trident Hall.

This one is really the Pride of England or its past glory !

Old Royal Naval College.

(The photo Center is the Trinity Hospital. Photo Right, Cutty Sark Ship)

Camera used was Canon 5D Mk3,  Pentax 15 mm F3.5,

Tamron SP 500 mm F8 Mirror lens,  800 mm Mirror Lens ??? make. 

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River Thames (on the Greenwich)

Those are the photos from the last week Shooting session

— or walking with camera in Greenwich.

The center of the photo, the tallest building is the Canary wharf, and

right hand side there is the Millennium Dome.

The camera was Canon 5D Mk3 and the Lens was Pentax 15mm F3.5

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Graffiti ? in Deptford

I don’t know how to call them Graffiti or Painting.

Anyhow, what-so-ever, They are there as they are.

 

I remember that about 10 years ago, I met artists who got their studio in

the pink building. — They were doing a kind of “community art program”

to paint big garbage bin in the town to black and white “cow like pattern”

= Making the city looks more pastoral and natural !  

—— What an utterly fantastic marvellous idea ! ! !  (I lost a word then. 😀 )

===== Guessing from the pink wall, they seems still there.

(Mind you, I’m writing this without any cynical connotation at all.)   

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Zeiss – 18mm Lens for Nikon

I saw this lens at Camera Cafe —– The test shot in the Cafe showed me

pretty impressive quality. Virtually no Distortion or Chromatic aberration.  

And this lens got the Number 1580xxxx,  the number of my fate. => So,

I decided to buy.  —– Lens itself is well known Distagon 18 mm F3.5 yet

this is for Nikon DSLR = FZ.2 type which has a Microchip built in and works

same as Nikon’s own lens, except auto-focus (still gives Focus-confirmation).

(Lens was designed by Zeiss but actuary made by  Coshina in Japan. ) 

From Camera Cafe, I took the direction south, on foot while shooting

time to time.— I felt the camera (Nikon D810) was working a bit funny.

= taking much longer to show the image though, I didn’t investigate it

on the spot. —– But after I checked the image on the PC, I realized that

D800 had been malfunctioning = gave all the exposure in HDR mode.  

And the photo above was the most severely mal-processed one.  (straight

from CF card)  And the photo below is the normal one. (though, clopped).

For HDR mode, three images in different exposures has to be integrated

= position has to match exactly —– though, the wrong one showed an utter

dislocation of the image and the color has been red-shifted. 

Richard of Camera Cafe explained that the So-called lens-mount adapter

with “Focus Confirmation type = microchip built in” often cause the

camera to malfunction. —– Though, it is too early for me to decide the

cause of this trouble.

(Whether the trouble could be repeated ? — in what condition etc etc. )

South of British Museum = Covent Garden area has many Dance / Ballet shops.  

Royal Opera/ Royal Ballet and the Drury Lane Theatre (which used to

perform “Cats” are there = Mecca of Dance.

And further walk down south => we get to the Waterloo Bridge.  

And the South-bank = Art centre is over the bridge.

It’s a funny installation though, as it was outside of Hayward Gallery,

it must be an art. —– is it ?  —– You got to be serious !    🙂  

—– So, optically superb.  Electronically —– not sure.   

I need to test this 18mm lens further. 

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Camera Cafe

They says it’s only one Camera Cafe in the world — may be, but I don’t care.

On the Photo above, end of street is British Museum (This is Museum Street).

Past decade or two, we are seeing less and less camera shops.  Small camera

shop disappeared because of big discount shop such as Jessops.  

And Jessops disappeared because of the internet shopping.

But before, local camera shop was a kind of talking shop and to the regular

faces, shop offering a cup of coffee or two. = So, to have a chat while having

a drink in a camera shop was not unusual sight at all. But digitals changed all.

Unlike a film photography, digital camera gives the result on the spot and

any short-coming become visible at once = anybody can see what’s wrong

and what to do. (if not, try other button = no need to learn, just press it !)

I know Camera Cafe many years —– they even organized a fund-rising

campaign to help Tsunami victims in Japan (gosh, 3 years ago !) = So,

it is a kind of node in the society and a salon to the photographers.  

And as a second-hand camera shop, they got quite a collection of

Zeiss lenses both for Hasselblad and Contax, on top of more familiar

Nikon and Canon. (as far as I’ve looked around, they are cheaper —–

such as Nikon F4 body, they offered for £250 —– only a while ago, I saw

it £350 at Nicolas of Camden = hence I nearly bought it but I got 150mm

lens for Hasselblad in stead (which I sold same one 25 years ago) (I can

test and use the lens on my current 5D Mk3 but to test Nikon F4, I need

to set up a dark-room to deal with B/W film again = a bit too much   :-))

The technical staff, Richard (photo Left) was a film maker before and

having immense depth of knowledge over lenses and the cameras.  

Very nice man to chat with.  🙂  —– and they got an exhibition space as

well (see the details on their website). 

Looking back the shopping list I did in there (such as Nikon’s 35 mm

PC lens,  Olympus 80 mm Life-size Macro etc etc.) —– I realized, that

I’ve been buying a kind of the item rather unusual = hard to sell

—– it’s mean, I’ve been a good customer to them.  😀

(But in the same time shop is keeping it’s own Reson de etre !)

They are open till 7:00 evening —– the best of the things there IS

they don’t have the restless tourist like customers.  😀

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Cooking KINTON in easiest way !

Kinton, in here Kuri-Kinton is a kind of cooking especially aiming

to a New-year’s celebration in Japan.  —– it is in fact a kind of Anko,

made out of white bean and some time it got sweet chest-nuts too.

Though, to cook Adzuki-bean and make Anko is a long laborious work

= use any bean, the work is more or less the same though, there is

always an escape —– if you can sacrifice some authenticity.

—– And this time I’ve took an easiest way which was non of the

corner left intact.  = (in other words, everything was cheated = Still,

end-result wasn’t too bad.  :-D)

It’s a long work to cook dry bean soft from scratch —— If so,

why not utilize the most popular readily cooked bean.  😀

I separated a tin of baked bean from its source (Left Photo) and

rinsed them to reduce the saltiness and boiled them with sugar.  

( Though, as it was a Baked bean with Tomato source, the residue

of red colour was a bit too much, I added a baked potato to

whiten it.) ( Centre Photo   🙂 )

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And after cooking, I got the idea to add Sweet-horse-chest-nut to

elaborate it to Kuri-Kinton. (But it took few days to find a pack of sweet

“Ferrero Rocher” —– as, I thought it was a Marron Grasse =

Sweet-horse-chest-nuts cooked in sugar.  But it was an utterly ignorant

mistake = it turned out to be just another Chocolate. (Right Photo)  😀    

I think I ate Marron Grasse 30 years ago which was lapped in Gold, like

Ferrero Rocher.  😀   Anyhow, as I don’t buy or eat sweets, I didn’t know.

—– So, I needed to go to a Japanese Shop to buy Amaguri (ready to eat

sweet Sweet-horse-chest-nuts to mix with Kinton.  🙂 ) 

—– So, at last, here the typical New-year’s cooking Kuri-Kinton.   🙂

It’s color a bit darker still it looks like genuine Kuri-Kinton, and taste

really like Kuri-Kinton = I don’t think there could be any doubt.

Far from it, I’m sure we can enjoy this.  —– Yet, some one might

say, it’s not genuine though, such complaint is only in the mind.

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Dedicates one’s whole life to make the best Kinton, while seeking the

best possible genuine beans etc etc IS a kind of the LIFE. —– Wearing

silly mask and costume to dance for a Carnival or Halloween can be

yet another LIFE = neither LIFE could be seen to be better or anything

closer to the Enlightenment.   BUT, at least, arguing like this is definitely

the waste of the time.  Zen only say, if you got to do, do the best.  (I mean,

it include good cheat as well. —– for a sake of good cooking.   😀 ) 

___/\___

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New year’s First Sunrise — (well, almost)

New year’s First Sunrise —– well, not quite.  It’s the second one.  

Yesterday was a bit cloudy = so, this is in deed, the first opportunity

to take picture though ……… I didn’t even go out of my room,

let alone go-up a hill or a beach to take typical photo.

Worse still, I didn’t even rise a bamboo blind.  Still, with a longer 

lens with its shallow depth of field, bamboo-blind was disappeared.  

And at least, the photo on top is a genuine photo of SUNRISE !

—– but, first of all, why do we bother a day next of 31st of December ?    

or So-called New year’s day.  

It’s not even a Winter Solstice-day = just arbitrarily man-named day

= a products of human imagination.     Nothing absolute !

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We human invented so many rules and the patterns for us

to be bound or even enslaved by it.  

Like, if we use English, we have to follow its strict rules.  

Or some of the people created their own God and follow it.

—– so, to take a special significance of the NEW-YEAR’S DAY

—– IS just depends on our mind-set.  

Mind has created “Special Day” and the mind enforce its belief.

—– still, it is only in our imagination.  It might be fun and

able to have a kind of comfort to feel a part of the larger society

though —– we may better to think “Why do I follow this ?”

There could be the other kind of life “If not follow it”.

Enlightenment is to liberate the mind yet I wouldn’t simply say

brake the convention —– to chose the same convention, same

conclusion could be a feasible choice. 

Still, to see it in different eyes, everyday could be a fresh first day.

Have a peaceful and joyful year.

___/\___

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Yamakake — Delicacy only for Japanese

——– (Soft-yam from Jamaica.  This 2.5″ thick  3″ long (6cm x 7.5 cm)

——— piece will make enough Tororo  for two persons)

What is Yamakake or Tororo ?

It is a kind of cooking with a special source made out of root-vegetable

called Tororo, and Yamakake is a type of Sashimi eaten with this source.

This root vegetable was botanically called Dioscorea, commonly known as 

Soft-Yam or Sweet-Yam which spread most of the hot countries and there

said to be over 600 species, and normally eaten boiled, like a Potato.

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In Japan they are called Naga-imo, Yama-imo, Jinen-jo and in medieval time

they said to be eaten boiled as well (described in a story “Imo-gayu”) though,

now they are cooked only for Tororo and make Yamakake Sashimi.

(Yet in Osaka area, small amount of Tororo was added for Okonomi-yaki and

the Tororo Soba also exists but not very popular.)

Sometime, I cook Sashimi of tuna in Yamakake style, when I got Soft-yam.

What makes Tororo unique is = in the world, only the Japanese eat it raw.

Raw mean just grated it to make slimy juice !   Sound yummy isn’t it !  😀

(In love with such slimy texture, Japanese eat Okura also raw —— just

sliced and mixed with Katsuo-bushi and Soy-source !  = Yummy again.  🙂 )

So that, Japanese has specially designed Grater (Photo left) called

Oroshi-gane (to make Daikon-Oroshi etc. Oroshi of Yama-imo is a Tororo).

To England, Soft-yam comes from Jamaica etc. even from France though,

seemingly it depends on the soil it grows, if it contains such as lots of iron,

it changes the color darker by oxidation and not nice for Yamakake.  😦

(Trouble is, we only discover it after cooked.  :-D)

After grated, concentrated Dashi with Soy-source and a raw egg  was mixed.  

This raw source / Tororo was served on the Sashimi / raw fish =

So that,  it makes a tasty Yamakake.  Wow !

Purist prefer to put pure Tororo for Yamakake though, I mixed it with

Dashi, Soy-source and raw egg to make it like Tororo-jiru for Tororo-gohan.  

And it is advisable to put small fragment of Lime skin (Yuzu or Kunenbo in

an authentic Japanese cooking ) to Tororo, and eat it together with some

Nori ( dried Sea-weed) on top.     Or, some Wasabi is good additive though,

it’s better to chose either Nori or Wasabi to keep a flavour not conflicting. 

Though, eat a fish raw, is a bit

tricky business in the west.  

So, I found a frozen salmon pack

which was made in an automated 

process without having touched by

a man’s hand (or least touched)

seems to be a safer choice.

(it comes from Lidl)

—– though, this was an old story. 

It was the Lidl’s harsh practice when

the item got good publicity kind (like this blog) and started to sell more, Lidl push the price up (in this case to £2 each piece) to suck more profit = soon or later, the fed-up customer dwindled = when Lidl realized that they no longer able to sell, they just stop to sell, instead to put the price back.  So, you can’t see this salmon there any more.

And in the same reason, I used to buy a packed raw tuna from Tesco though, after the price of tuna rocketed, I couldn’t find them any more.

= So, this time I made a Yamakake of Salmon here. The taste and it’s texture, melt in the mouth is an exquisite to us !

—– But, I wouldn’t say “Try” to you at all.  ( You better look away.  ;-)) (So far, no westerner ever touched this = it’s exclusively for Japanese)

Thence, I prepared and stocked-up only for myself for coming new-year.  

Bon appetite to me.   😀

——————————–

PS :  I asked my Chinese friend  Shing Lee  how they eat Yam, as I saw

Chinese shop also selling Soft-yam.

So, he sent me the information and the photos.

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The Yam is called 山药 or 淮山 in Chinese. It both grows in

wild at high mountains and man-grown in the field.

Normally, we have two methods to eat:

First, we peel it, and slit it into thin pieces, and then put it into

the hotpot, boil it with ribs.

Second, peel it and put it into the boiling oil, and fried to make

it looks like golden bullion.

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I have not been able to enjoy a Sashimi or raw egg yet.

It seems your Yamakake sound great though, it is

made with raw soft-yam, raw egg and a Salmon.  🙂

Personally, I like put it into the hotpot, and drink the soup.

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Thank you  Shing Lee for your contribution !

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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” 🙂

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