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niigata prefecture (新潟県, niigata-ken) mostly ojiya 小千谷市 (and nagaoka 長岡市)
a few pictures i took during my first few weeks in ojiya
... the first two days were just too busy so i didnt take any pictures. then on the thrid day, i experienced my first earthquake - it had an intensity of magnitude 5.9 at the epicenter, but for me, in ojiya, it was only a magnitude 3; it still woke me up tho.
ojiya and its neighboring towns are renowned for their koi (nishikigoi). that's why the underpass entrance next to the train station in ojiya looks like a big koi. oh, and that's aiden, my roommate in japan.
a big thanks to yuika for babysitting aidan and me and taking us to the ghibli exhibition at the museum of modern art in niigata prefecture. ヽ(o＾▽＾o)ノ
sadly, they were really strict about what i was allowed to take pictures of.
photographing fireworks for the first time
the next day, rio babysat us and took us to a fireworks festival in oijya. according to her, the place is considered a national treasure. i would have assumed as much because everything looked really cute and well-preserved.
this evening was also the first time i got to shoot fireworks. i already asked leon - my wildlife photography buddy (ig: leon_alpen_photography) - what i could have done differently, and if i get myself a tripod here in japan, i will try his tips next time.
more random pictures from ojiya
ojiya is an adorable city where i always encountering something interesting whenever i venture out. today, for example, i spotted a car similar to the one i drive back in germany: a second-generation jimny, albeit a slightly newer model. despite the distance, it seemed to be in remarkably good condition.
submarines...
i noticed something funny: someone, for whatever reason, has put up submarine stickers all over ojiya, in the most unexpected places.
capturing fast-paced subjects for the first time
on the 07.07, shingo sensei took noah (my new roommate from london), lya (a girl from belgium who stayed at the program 5 years ago and came to visit for a week), and me to ojiya's bull sumo wrestling event. according to a little leaflet they gave out at the entrance - "tsunotsuki," which translates to "locking horns" - the bullfighting here in ojiya is different from most of the bullfighting in the world. there is no winner or loser, and the match does not end in injuries or death. i shot the following images with the ef 24-105mm, which is my only autofocus lens. at times, i wished i had an even more telephoto lens, perhaps a 200mm or something similar. however, in the end, the pictures are large enough for me to crop them, especially for social media use or here on my website.
experimenting with long-exposure
the day after we lit up some fireworks and sparklers and i used this opportunity to experimented a bit with exposure timing. :) (helios 44-2)
photographing fireworks for the second time
on the 2nd of august, we went to a big fireworks festival in nagaoka. following leon's (ig: @leon_alpen_photography) advice, i bought a tripod from the local Kś ケーズデンキ here in ojiya. they didn't have many options, so i chose one that can support up to 2 kg: the kenko zf-300 wsh, priced at ¥3,500 (approximately €21.50). i decided to bring my carl zeiss jena 35mm lens to the fireworks because i didn't know how far away we would be to them, and i wanted a low aperture. in the end, we were really far away, so a zoom lens would have been better. after taking my first pictures in 'bulb mode,' i realized that a low aperture isn't even that great for fireworks. so next time, i will probably take my canon zoom lens.
daytrip to jōetsu (上越市)
i wanted to drive around and explore the coast a bit. at some point, i ended up in jōetsu, specifically in the area of the city called takada. driving through this part of jōetsu felt strange because there were so many temples - when i say many, i truly mean it. the neighborhood seemed to go something like this: temple, temple, duplex, temple, single-family home, temple, temple, temple, school, temple…
i didn't take many pictures that day (don't even know why), so these are basically all the shots I captured. ^^
i wish i had managed to capture the entire statue without cutting off the top of its head, but then i wouldn't have had the bottles in the shot.
ojiya festival
the festivities began on friday the 23rd, with the main street closed off and food stalls set up. we also had a nagashi-sōmen slide where i helped to put in the sōmen - haha. during the evening, there were also various dance performances. the celebration continued throughout the weekend, with festival wagons parading through the city. on the 24th, i joined one of the wagons, playing taiko alongside elementary school children, and later that evening, i rode in another wagon, waving to the bystanders. on the last day of the festival, they invited me to ride along with them again, but i decided i wanted to stand by and take some pictures :D
most of the time, i used my 24-105 mm autofocus lens, and it worked really well in my opinion. the last two pictures i took with the helios 44-2
walking around niigata (新潟市)
i had to have my residence card reissued because i lost it during my last visit to tokyo - perhaps in ueno park or at c104; i'm not certain. after i completed the process at the airport, i explored niigata, visiting the beautiful park and the surrounding suburbs. i primarily used the carl zeiss 35mm lens and took the final shot with the helios 44-2.
i like both of these pictures a lot, but each is missing something. perhaps the bike picture would look better in the evening with orange light, and i wish the little dragon had water coming out of its mouth when i took the picture.
katakai fireworks festival (asahara shrine)
katakaimachi, a township in ojiya, holds an annual fireworks festival dedicated to the gods of asahara shrine. the festival's centerpiece is the yonshakudama, an enormous firework weighing 420 kg that is shot 800 meters into the sky by a cannon. but even the "small" fireworks were nice to look at :)
besides the fireworks in the evenings, there were naturally also the shrine's festivities. i must say, i don't know how shingo sensei managed it, but not only were we allowed to enter the shrine, we were also permitted to stay inside during the ceremony. shingo knows everyone in ojiya, haha.
right next to the shrine was a dohyō (english: sumo ring). on the second day of the festival, i watched some matches.
there seems to be something wrong with my ef 24-105 :(
while reviewing the pictures, i noticed that something must be seriously off with the ef 24-105. even at f/7.1, the center of the images aren't sharp; fuzzy edges are noticeable without needing to pixel-peep. the pictures also appear to have light bleed, which is surprising. i would expect these issues at f/4 in the corners, but not at f/7.1 in the center of the image. :( after inspecting the lens, i noticed that when touched, the front element can wiggle. i'm sure that's not supposed to happen.
below, i've included two pictures: one from a sumo match during the festival and another from the second bullfight i attended two weeks ago. they are not zoomed in but are cropped to the center of the image. when you view pictures on instagram or, for example, here on my site, they are often downsized, so you might not notice issues like this right away. however, i want my equipment to work as intended, so i will think about what to do about the faulty lens.
i'm sure that if i put on a lens hood, it would mitigate the effect somewhat, but i still think something is off. the images are just too smooth. :(
a late afternoon at kōryujinja shrine
since my ef 24-105 seems to be broken, i decided to use my carl zeiss and bring the helios as a backup. however, i ended up not using the helios. i believe that over the years, more and more structures have been built around the massive boulder-like rock on which the shrine sits. this has somehow given the surroundings a cozy atmosphere. everything is a bit cramped, but not to the point of feeling claustrophobic. in the first picture, you can still see the old white torii gate, over which a protective cover has now been built. i bought some offerings for the god of this shrine at one of the charming little shops nearby: 2 eggs, 160ml of sake, and 2 candles (for 550 yen).
someone knitted a little hat for my little man, hehe; and it looks like he has a fondness for beautiful stones. ^^
summary:
last time, i didn't have a wide-angle lens, but this time i did, and i ended up keeping it mounted most of the time. the carl zeiss 35mm is both sharp (in my opinion) and compact, so i could leave it mounted most of the time without it being too bulky when packing it back into my bag. speaking of the bag, i got a good deal on a lowepro nova 180 aw ii right before flying to japan. i have to say, this bag is awesome. it's compact enough to count as a personal item with the airline i flew with, and it also has a strap that securely attaches to your rolling luggage. in terms of capacity, the bag holds my canon 6d with a mounted prime vitage lens, two extra small prime lenses, the ef 24-105mm f/4, and additional stuff like extra batteries and cables.
during my time in japan, my 24-105mm developed light bleed and soft edges :( i mean, i bought it used, and it's an older lens, but it still sucks! now i have to spend money i don't have to get it serviced.
i also decided to get a 50mm f/1.4 autofocus lens. manual focusing is fine most of the time, but when it comes to moving subjects or quick shots, they can be a bit of a struggle.
now, onto japan: my time there felt way too short. i met a lot of awesome and kind people, and i also gained some valuable life experiences. i didn't get to see nearly as many places as i wanted to, so i will be back in the (hopefully near) future.