I have added a new Showcase section which has my all time favourite (and hopefully best) photos from everywhere I’ve been. My goal was to display the photos which turned out well with a unique effect, not to fully detail every individual place like my larger galleries usually do. Most photos in this showcase have already been posted or blogged before, but there’s new ones in there too in the Saint John sections from these past 2 weeks when I was home.
Archive for July, 2009
Introducing my new photography ‘showcase’
Monday, July 27th, 2009Summer 2009 in Saint John
Sunday, July 26th, 2009This month, I returned to Saint John for a visit. Of course, I tried to time this to occur in July when the Port City usually has less than horrible weather. I was in luck on a few sunny days and went out with my camera.
There are some very nice, well kept homes in Millidgeville. I was drawn to the colour of this house. Hopefully no one saw me, wondering why I’m randomly taking a picture of this house.
From this shot in the North End, Saint John looks quite dense! However, what you don’t see here is the large open area of mostly-empty highway lanes and roads in between the buildings in the foreground and the uptown high rises in the distance.
Uptown Saint John!
The view from Harbour Passage is somehow one of the most scenic you can find anywhere on the ground in the city, even though there isn’t anything entirely unusual in this area.
Measure twice, cut once! Work is progressing on the Market Square expansion to add new office space. From where this guy is standing, it’s a long way down if something goes wrong!
Someone’s porch has a nice, decorative clock on the patio of their uptown condo. I can’t imagine actually wanting to sit here though simply because people like me are always walking or driving by.
On the first sunny day in a while, Saint John Harbour is entirely void of any cruise ships. Oops. I liked the lines visible in this photo. This same picture should (hopefully) look entirely different in 10 years because the coast goard site at the left will hopefully be redeveloped. Many the city will find a way to actually use the new cruise ship terminal properly and get rid of that tacky white tent too. While we’re at, they could condemn the Canada “Customs Building” (which actually has no customs offices inside anymore) for unsightly premises. It is ugly!
Barbour’s General Store is looking nice at its new location across from city hall. This building has moved many times in its history. It must have a solid structure! The Brunswick House office tower is visible in the window reflections.
A horse chows down at Rockwood Park. It seemingly has no problem living off the system.
A lifeguard seat is empty at Fisher Lakes. Actually, there was lots of people at this beach behind me. This was the last photo I took in Saint John while home, just a couple hours before I hopped on my plane to go back to Calgary.
Japan – Goodbye for now! + Video (10 of 10)
Saturday, July 11th, 2009After 2 weeks, it was time to go home from Japan.
During my visit, the H1N1 virus was an issue being addressed. Upon landing, an extra hour was added to our time on the tarmac while Japanese health officials took everyone’s temperature on the plane. This experience was a bit unusual to me. We were told not to take pictures. Don’t worry, I didn’t and no one else did either.
My last meal and one of my favourite in Japan was beef curry rice at the airport. This is a popular dish and one that is easy for Canadians to eat with the familiar fork instead of chop sticks.
The airport in Osaka is actually on an artificial island connected with the mainland by a very long bridge. I suspect this is cheaper than expanding to develop on the mountains in the distance. Shortly after taking this photo, the plane lifted off and I began my long trip back to Calgary.
Video
And now for something a little different from my usual blogging. I have compiled a video with clips from random sights around Japan as well as the ICRA2009 conference. Enjoy!
This concludes my blog postings for Japan, 2009.
Japan – Japanese Pub and Osaka University (9 of 10)
Monday, July 6th, 2009Upon arriving at the place where I was staying in Osaka near the University, Dr. Kitamura who was hosting me suggested we go out to a traditional Japanese pub for dinner.
This is where we went! At the far left is is Like, a visiting researcher from Singapore. I thank her for these photos since I didn’t really take many here. Next to her is Takuya, the student who greeted me at the train station to take me to my accomodation. At the far right is Dr. Kitamura. Driving with him to the pub was my first time on the left side of the road in a car! (I’ve been on the left in buses before in the UK, though)
This is the table where we sat inside. It was quite uncomfortable for me sitting on the floor since it is not a position I am used to!
This is one of the many Japanese dishes that Dr. Kitamura ordered for us. I don’t eat seafood though, so I had to pass on some of them.
This eggplant pizza actually tasted quite good.
If I remember correctly, this is a bottle of Sake. This bottle belongs specifically to Dr. Kitamura and is stored at a special spot in the pub.
My main academic reason for going to Osaka was to present at Osaka University in the lab where my supervisor, Dr. Ehud Sharlin, has worked previously.
This is me presenting as students from the lab watch. Thanks to Dr. Yoshifumi Kitamura for this photo!
It was here at the university where I became familiar with a few more Japanese customs. For example, before entering the lab area, everyone removes their shoes and puts on slippers. There are big cabinets to house everyone’s shoes, including some pairs for guests.
After this, I have one more post for Japan. Stay tuned.
Japan – Rest of Osaka (8 of 10)
Monday, July 6th, 2009Besides Osaka Castle, I saw a few other sights in Osaka. I also spent some time just walking around, at least when the weather was cooperating.
Tsūtenkaku (informally known by some as Osaka Tower) is a famous landmark in Osaka. I went up. They have a gift shop up top, but unfortunately they accept cash only, and I was short on cash and couldn’t buy some post cards I saw there. Post cards are actually hard to find in Japan compared to other tourist areas.
The city of Osaka seems to stretch forever in this view from from the tower. This is actually a better view than what I saw in person. There was plenty of clouds and rain occurring.
This is one of Osaka’s bustling streets near the tower. Convenience stores like the one to the right are everywhere in Japan, almost on every street corner and they are open 24 hours a day.
Osaka at night is brightly lit and active, especially around one of the main train stations where I was here.
In Osaka, there is a section of several street blocks of electronics stores everywhere.In the centre of this photo, you can see a sign identifying this particular building as the Windows Tower. The logo being used is quite old from the Windows 95 era.
Some are the many stores are smaller versions of North American big box stores, while others are small and carrying various electrical components like you see here. One store also sold used versions of every iPod ever made, and many stores carried all kinds of tiny laptops.
Tsūtenkaku
Japan – Osaka Castle (7 of 10)
Monday, July 6th, 2009And now, I will talk about some of my sights from Osaka. This city is one of Japan’s largest cities. It is quite expansive, though not quite like Tokyo. I explored much of this city on my own, so I tended to waste more time than I like.
One of the main tourist attractions is Osaka Castle, which I walked around at night time. It is also one of Japan’s most famous castles. You can also go inside, though I’m told the outside is the most impressive.
The castle area is surrounded by a moat. Of course!
Many locals were just relaxing around it, fishing and other such activities.
There were a bunch of cats sitting around and one person was painting one. This cat was looking at me, but didn’t seem overly amused! It also seems to have one blue eye and one green eye!
Here it is! This castle played a major role in the unification of Japan in the 16th century. This structure is not original. It was destroyed in 1615.
The architecture is quite impressive close up.
The ground are also quite relaxing, and likely quite busy during the day when the castle is open, especially at the height of the cherry blossom season (which I missed). Osaka’s skyscrapers can be seen in the distance.
I’ll post more photos from Osaka soon. For now, the rest of my Osaka Castle photos are in my Gallery.