Photos of Kiyosumi Gardens, Tokyo, with Leica IIIG

My mother-in-law lives in Tokyo. She is a wonderful host to us when we visit. Her home is a short walk from the beautiful Kiyosumi Garden. With an interesting history, including the incorporation of natural stones collected from all around Japan, and being owned at one time by the founder of the Mitsubishi empire, today it's a public park that is perfect for a morning stroll.

 

(Click Here) to read more about the history of Kiyosumi Garden.

 

The garden is centered around a large pond, and features a floating teahouse.

 

Kiyosumi Garden, by Reed A. George

Leica IIIG, 5cm f3.5 Elmar Lens with Yellow Filter

Ilford HP5+ Film (iso 400)

 

In addition to the natural stones and traditional Japanese garden trees (including pines, willows, and cherry trees), the garden has a lot of wildlife, like the ducks you see above, as well as turtles.

 

 

Kiyosumi Garden Wildlife, by Reed A. George

Leica IIIG, 5cm f3.5 Elmar Lens with Yellow Filter

Ilford HP5+ Film (iso 400)

 

The Leica IIIG, collapsible Elmar, and 400 speed film are not your classic landscape gear. However, I quite like the images I was able to produce with them here. The yellow filter helped increase the contrast just a little, but it was imperative that I keep the bright sky out of the images. In the first image, I had to crop out a plain white sky.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Green Sea Turtle - Scuba Diving With Panasonic's Underwater Camera, the Lumix DMC-TS5

 

Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) From Below, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS5

 

I am mid-vacation now, and battling jet lag, mostly unsuccessfully. Lucky for me, our scuba trip this morning was scheduled for early morning. We had to be at the Maalea Harbor at around 6:30AM. No problem there. We were up by 5:00, and it was actually a challenge to sleep that long. It will also be a challenge to stay awake long enough to see the sunset tonight.

 

I'm pretty wiped out, so I picked a single picture from our dives today to share. I have a lot more to share later.

 

We did two dives with Maui Divers, the first on a wreck called the St. Anthony, the second on Molokini. Both were outstanding!

 

(Click Here) to check out Maui Divers. They run a great shop, and made us comfortable every step of the way, including taking my newly-certified twelve year old daughter on here deepest dives ever.

 

The DMC-TS5 performed very well. I'm learning more about how to set it for diving. The Advanced Underwater mode works well at avoiding too much blue, but the tiny on-camera flash is only good for closeups. Otherwise, it causes reflections from particulates in the water to diffuse the image. An off-camera light would really help. I may look into an LED for that purpose.

 

(Click Here) to read my user report on this great little camera.

 

I have more to share, but it will have to wait until I'm more awake...

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

Combining Two Loves - Science and Photography

I have just achieved a milestone. Combining my love for field science and photography, I have the incredible honor of being published in a first-rate Paleontology journal with a true leader in the field, Dr. Robert Weems. Our paper on amphibians and non-marine turtles from the miocene period was published in the July issue of the Journal of Paleontology.

 

(Click Here) to read the abstract.

 

My minor contributions to the work included two things - finding a humerus bone from a several million year old land turtle, and taking all of the photographs for the paper. Dr. Weems provided all of the scientific expertise, writing, and editing.

 

Here's the sample that I found:

 

Miocene Turtle Humerus, by Reed A. George

 

I met Dr. Weems through my association with Paleo Quest, a non-profit organization focused on education and scientific research, specifically in Paleontology.

 

(Click Here) to check out Paleo Quest.

 

What an exciting project! Thanks, Dr. Weems, for all of your assistance and support.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com