Adventures of a new camera

Back over golden week I wrote about this terrible  horrible no good very bad thing that happened to me: my lovely and beloved Nikon d3000 had a major heat attack and stopped working. I fiddled with the screws for a few days and eventually got it to function but it was no longer reliable and as my camera quickly became my most favourite inanimate possession I knew this just wouldn't do. After much research and a major amount of luck I found a Nikon d5100 and a brand new lens for a very great price. Not wanting to miss an opportunity I bought it (stopped eating for a month) and the shooting began a new.

On our first outing, or rather our honeymoon as I'm marrying this new wonder of a camera, we went on adventure around Fujiyoshida. First I went hunting for irises and a rice field and found some beautiful ones. Too bad it was cloudy but as we're neck-deep in rainy season it is rather to be expected. Inspired by the flowers and fields I made it me assignment to shoot some good rice field photos and thought I was rather successful with my favourite being a water skitter framed by a ripple and the reflection of the sun.

In Asumi, which is where I found the nicest rice fields, there is also a pond known for water lilies in late summer. While there were none today there was some fun wood steps across the water and a pretty sky over the mountains. And at school I'd often been distracted by this lovely torii gate out the window and so today felt like a good day to go there. The shrine was up a grassy slope and through the forest to a very charming little clearing in the woods protected by a pair of guardians. it was a very poetic little place right out of a story book where I found a bit of peace.

 

The last couple shots of the day were a very typical view of rural Japan and an awesome Mt. Fuji peaking out of the clouds for the first time in days all barren of snow.

All and all it was a perfect first adventure with Nikon d5100 and I hope for many many more~

Of cherries and roses

So now its summer which mean long hot humid days and intermittent rain because rainy season is on its way. So for the first sort of  day of summer we went to Kofu to do some cherry picking much like we did in Yamagata last year. It was as awesome and delicious for all-you-can eat cherries and I won the record of us four (me, Sheena, Laura and Kelly) with 51 cherries eaten in 40 minutes. But Sheena one the record for most in the mouth at 11 or maybe it was more... anyways I just made it to 10. It was awesome.

 

 

Next we went to this place past Nirasaki called Hiedi's village which was based on the folk story and a bit strange except the roses were gorgeous. We walked through the longest tunnel of roses in Japan apparent. My favourite were the pink ones and I wore the perfect outfit to blend in. The rest of the park was nice too with some irises, water lilies and I saw a lizard.

 

As the best thing to do after a trip in the Kofu basin is a trip to the Aeon mall. We finished off the day there with pizza and Subway!