Tokyo is hot! For the third consecutive week we have around 35ºC (to my knowledge around 95ºF) and it is not abating. Water! First, I tried to catch the shower at 1/4000 which – of course - gave nothing. Then I remembered this beautiful Dromedary that my wife had brought back from Africa. As side light I clamped the trusty LED reading light to the sower bar. A bit too white overall, I covered the lamp in the back with a red plastic sheet (the only I had). Holding the camel in one hand and the camera in the other I took a series of shots. This one seemed ok but then on the PC screen the red background was not watery enough. As I had already run more than my share of water, I fiddled around in photoshop to make it more of blueish. Now I will have a quick shower myself! Yippee!
This should have been my chance to show off the fantastic view I have over Tokyo with Mount Fuji in the background. On weekend nights when most of the lights in the office towers are turned off a beautiful starry sky appears overhead (=> Comment). None of such this week, instead we are waiting for the Typhoon Nº 7 to hit on Tuesday. Already the sky is covered in clouds and gusts of wind come and go. So to the nearby pond in the hope to get some clearing up and at least the Skytree came out of the clouds. There is a floating path, and I went with a torchlight to try to paint TOKYO during the 30 seconds exposure. After some trials it somehow worked out. Quite cool and reliable the remote control of my camera by the iPhone. No stardust today but why not Ziggy? https://youtu.be/eIXmFL9ckGE
In week 29 my frame was the of two beautiful pink lotus flowers in bloom. Afterwards they metamorphose into rather eerie looking seed pods. Some are scared when looking at these pods which seem to inspire primal fear of holes which is called Trypophobia. In Japan their sight is common, and the dried seeds are enjoyed as snacks. Also, the root of some lotus plants can be eaten and is quite delicious. It was a bit difficult to take a photo as after the bloom of the flower the pods become hidden underneath the canopy of continuously growing large green leaves. It is rather dark underneath there and I had to reach out to move some the large leaves to let the light in. Not much more to say about the photo except that I darkened the background in post to bring the focus on the seed pod.
