2025 Highlights




 





Happy Holidays!

I hope your holiday season is going well! 

Please check below for the Japanese translation. 

I will again be doing a series covering highlights from 2025.

Put on your seat belt and enjoy the ride!

I will update this schedule as I add posts. 

 

TITLE OF POST            PHOTO INFORMATION      DATE OF POST        POST INFORMATION   

2025 Highlights             Birds from the trip                    12/16/25                            Trip Information 

The Heart and Soul of Teaching     Showa Kinen Night Lights     12/18/25            Tutoring Inspiration

Exercise Ecstasy            Himeji Castle                               12/21/25                        Exercise Details 

 

What a way to end the photography year for me!

Setsuko planned out another amazing trip that took us to a number of gorgeous sites in the Okayama area. 

The larger pictures of the great blue heron were taken at the Okayama Castle.

I have not seen many of these herons camping out away from water.

However, this heron was doing exactly that!

I moved very slowly as I approached the heron, hoping that I would not scare it away.

I guess I did not need to worry about that as a woman walked right past the heron while saying hello to the bird!

This is one of the few times I was able to effectively capture a bird with my iPhone. Amazing! 

 

The other pictures were taken with my Canon pro gear and 800 lens at one of Japan's most famous gardens, the Korakuen Garden. 

Like so many wonderful adventures, there is a related funny story. 

I was using my iPhone to take some wonderful landscape photos when three beautiful ducks landed in a pond next to me.

I quickly got out my pro gear in preparation for capturing these good looking creatures.

However, much to my dismay, my screen was totally black!

I tried several things but could not get the screen to cooperate.

I then kicked myself for not checking my gear before the trip.

 

That evening, I pulled out the camera again and connected it to my 800 lens.

It was then that I realized that I had not adjusted the aperture setting at the garden, which explained why the screen was dark.

No light was getting to the camera!!!!

Do you think senility is catching up with me a little early???

 

Fortunately, on the last full day of the trip, I was able to go back to that garden.

Luck was with me as the same duck species came back for a return visit.

1800 pictures later, I was able to capture some of the incredible beauty of those ducks! 

 

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

All the best,

Bob 

 

ハッピーホリデー！ ホリデーシーズンがうまくいきますように！ 日本語訳は以下をご覧ください。 2025年のハイライトを特集するシリーズをまたお届けします。 シートベルトを締めて、ドライブをお楽しみください！ 私にとって、最高の写真年を締めくくることができました！ 節子さんがまた素晴らしい旅を計画してくれました。岡山周辺の美しい場所を巡る旅です。 オオアオサギの大きな写真は岡山城で撮影しました。 水辺から離れた場所でキャンプをしているアオサギはあまり見かけません。 しかし、このアオサギはまさにそうしていました！ アオサギに近づく際、驚かせないようにゆっくりと歩きました。 心配する必要はなかったようです。女性がアオサギのすぐそばを通り過ぎ、鳥に挨拶をしてくれたのです！ iPhoneで鳥をうまく撮影できたのは、これが数少ない機会の一つです。素晴らしい！ 他の写真は、日本で最も有名な庭園の一つ、後楽園で、Canonのプロ仕様の機材と800mmレンズを使って撮影しました。 多くの素晴らしい冒険と同じように、これに関連した面白いエピソードがあります。 iPhoneで素敵な風景写真を撮っていたところ、3羽の美しいアヒルが隣の池に降り立ちました。 この美しい生き物たちを撮影しようと、急いでプロ仕様の機材を取り出しました。 ところが、なんと画面が真っ暗になってしまったのです！ いろいろ試してみましたが、画面はうまく動きませんでした。 旅行前に機材のチェックをしておけばよかったと後悔しました。 その日の夕方、再びカメラを取り出し、800mmレンズを接続しました。 その時、庭園で絞りを調整していなかったことに気づき、画面が暗かった理由が分かりました。 カメラに光が届かなかったのです!!!! 老衰が少し早く始まったのでしょうか？？？ 幸運なことに、旅の最終日には、あの庭に戻ることができました。 幸運にも、同じ種類のアヒルが再び訪れてくれました。 1800枚もの写真を撮り、あのアヒルたちの息を呑むほど美しい姿を捉えることができました！ 次の章もお楽しみに！ ご多幸を祈ります。 ボブより
 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love Story!

Image
          Please see below for the Japanese translation!  I would like to dedicate this recording of "Where Do I Begin" (Theme from Love Story) to my friend Nari. You have inspired me to return to playing the piano and recording. I made this recording on my Yamaha P-515. Thank you!  These are more pictures from the Music Forest Museum in Kawaguchiko. What a treasure it is! It seemingly has endless delights around every corner!  I am going to make this short as I am working hard to finish the school year on a strong note. 13 days to go, but who is counting? All the best, Bob Reed   日本語訳は以下をご覧ください！ 「Where Do I Begin」（ラブストーリーのテーマ）のこの録音を、友人のナリに捧げたいと思います。 あなたの刺激のおかげで、ピアノを弾き、レコーディングを再開することができました。 この録音はヤマハP-515で行いました。 ありがとうございます！ 河口湖のオルゴールの森美術館で撮った写真です。 本当に素晴らしい場所です！ 隅々まで無限の魅力が詰まっているようです！ 新学期を良い形で終えられるよう、頑張っているので、今回は短くまとめます。 あと13日ですが、誰が数えているでしょうか？ ご多幸を祈ります。 ボブ・リード   Nihongo-yaku wa ika o goran kudasai! `Where Do I Begin'(rabusutōrī n...
Read more

A New Job!

Image
Hello again! I hope you enjoy my recording of the classic, "Leaving on A Jet Plane." That song has always had special meaning to me as it was the first song I learned on the guitar. I only wish I could match the wonderful recordings by John Denver and Peter, Paul, and Mary! These photos are from Jindai Botanical Garden, such a gorgeous place!  As I think I may have mentioned, my current job at the American School is over at the end of this year. While I could stay and work as a substitute teacher, my preference is to have a regular position, so I get the joy of working with the same students on a consistent basis.  There is a wonderful web site that lists most of the top international schools in the Tokyo area: https://www.international-schools-database.com/in/tokyo Call it luck or call it persistence, I recently hit the jackpot when I discovered an amazing gem, The Tokyo International Progressive School, or TIPS, https://www.tokyoips.com/ This is from their main page: TIPS i...
Read more

Lake Kawaguchiko Revisited!

Image
  Please see below for the Japanese translation! I think this was my third trip to the fabulous Lake Kawaguchiko area. What an area it is! I hope you enjoy these pictures! I had the fortune of doing this trip with my good friend Stuart. He speaks excellent Japanese, so I had a wonderful companion as well as an interpreter. It does not get any better than that! This photography process is new to me. When I photographed in the US, I had so little time that I wanted to go to new and different locations each time I did a photo trip. As a result, I rarely photographed a given location more than once. The advantage of going back to a site multiple times is that the photographer learns more about the location and develops different ideas of how to approach the photo shoot. Boy oh boy, did that ever apply to this trip!   I so enjoyed having a new perspective on the lake and the local photo hot spots. In addition, I was up and out the door between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning, so I was...
Read more