Tokyo De-hazed

It has been a busy month, 2 weeks in Japan followed by a couple of guys trips, but finally getting around to editing photos from Japan.  

I had done some research prior to being in Tokyo on which of the numerous observation decks to visit.  My first target was the Bunkyo Civic Center due to the possibility of seeing Mount Fuji from the 25th floor.

Our first attempt was on Sunday the day after we arrived.  We were going to the Giants vs Swallows baseball game and the Bunkyo Civic Center is adjacent to the Tokyo Dome.  Unfortunately the Bunko Civic Center was closed on the third Sunday of May and we were not able to get in...  I did know this but didn't clue in since it was May 15th and I was thinking it was only the second Sunday... I blame it on jet lag...  It was pretty hazy so probably would have been all for not...

Anyways a couple days later we were on the subway heading back for an afternoon rest and noticed we had just past the Tokyo Dome.  It was somewhat sunny out and after a quick discussion with Lo, hopped off at the next stop to loop back to the Bunkyo Civic Center.  To our dismay when we reached the top it was too hazy to see Mount Fuji... Was worth the shot though. I took the following picture where Fuji-san should have been and then onto our original plan of an afternoon rest.  Even though we did not see Fuji-san there was a decent view of Shinjuku along with the Skytree and I would recommend going to the observation deck if you are in the area as it is free.

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Hazy Shinjuku

Once home I started playing with the raw file applying Lightrooms Dehaze feature.  To my surprise it was able to faintly pull in Mount Fuji!  I also ran it through Nik's Silver Efex Pro to make a black and white version as the dehaze did add a fair amount of grain.  Below is my current edit, still struggling with the haziness in the buildings but I am pretty happy with the results.  A little disappointed I only took one shot from up there.  Should have taken a couple of compositions but really didn't think it was going to be recoverable...

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Fuji-san!

Slowly working through the photo edits from the entire trip.  Will start posting them in the next week or so along with some experiences.

Farewell Rexall Place

Yesterday we drove up to Edmonton for the final game at Rexall Place.  In the 80s Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and company put Edmonton on the map playing for the Edmonton Oilers.  The Oilers were dominant in the 80s winning 5 Stanley cups from 1984 to 1990.  Since that time they have made the playoffs 9 times in the last 24 seasons.  Their last appearance was an amazing run to the Stanley Cup finals in which they suffered a heart breaking loss in game 7... that was 10 years ago...

Since that time the Oilers have been on a 10 year rebuild.  It has not gone well but things are looking up with teenage phenom Connor McDavid leading the team.  The other good news is Rexall Place (Northlands Coliseum) is being retired and a brand new shinny arena will be opened for the 2016-17 season.

I normally would not take a camera (Aside from the iPhone) but being that last night would be the last NHL game played at Rexall Place I wanted to take a decent camera to grab some photos.  Northlands would not commit to what would be allowed camera wise (normally DSLRs are not allowed at a games).  Professional cameras are not allowed, but what a "professional" camera these days is debatable.  I didn't want to attract too much attention with a large lens so opted for the Fuji X-T1 with the Rokinon 8mm and an Fuji X-E2 with the pancake 27mm.  Turns out you could have brought whatever you wanted as they were fairly lax at security.

My goal was to grab a couple of exterior shots, photo at the Gretzky statue, a couple of panorama's and whatever I could get from our seats.  Upon leaving I wasn't too excited with what I captured but tonight I loaded the memory cards and although I didn't check all the boxes above I am pretty happy with what I got considering I the lens I had.

Here is the Flickr Album:

Pinhole Souvenir

When we were in Buenos Aires this past May, I stumbled upon a vendor selling pinhole cameras in a market.  They were painted nicely and I knew this was the perfect souvenir for me.

Pinhole Camera

The camera consists of a spring loaded shutter, empty film canister and box with a pin hole to expose the film.  You take a new roll of film, open the empty film canister, tape it to the post and seal it up.  You then slide the film into the exposure box.  Place this all inside the outer case and you are good to go.

There is a little tab on the back of the exposure box that fits into the film sprocket holes.  When you wind the empty canister with a key the tab makes a clicking noise as it moves from sprocket to sprocket.  When you hear 13 clicks you are onto the next frame.

I went out on a sunny day to give it a try.  A roll of 24 photos gave me 15 exposures.  It was fun not knowing what you were framing and I was eagerly anticipating the results.  Unfortunately most of what I got back was a blurry mess... I should have known better and brought along a tripod to stabilize the camera while I was shooting, it was tough to know how long to keep the shutter open.  The exposures looked close enough but there was just too much camera shake.  The following 2 photos were the best of the bunch.  I might try again with a small tripod one day.  Overall it was a fun experiment and one of the best souvenirs I have picked up on my travels.

A Blurry Wonderland

Downtown YYC