ume part II

Otaku in Japanese pretty much means nerd and is used to describe people that go overboard with a hobby. Often people that sit indoors all day reading manga are called otaku. In Japan there's also camera otaka (which mika now calls me). They have all the greatest gear, usually at least two bodies and lenses that cost as much as most peoples cars. so i was at the castle still and noticed a big crowd of people with cameras so thought i'd better have a look. Not sure if they were a camera club but there was about 20 people set up taking photos of some type of bird on an ume branch. Looked fun so i unpacked my tripod and got out my 70-200 and teleconverter and joined in.

Here's where everyone was setup. there was about 20 photogs
and their groupies. most of them had the camo for their camera and lenses
and weird little seats that only a japanese person could sit on.

after people got bored i got a shot of my setup. nikon d80 with
sigma 70-200 and new velbon carbon fibre tripod. It's nice to use
a tripod that i can use at eye level.

Here's the fake ume branch they were putting small worms and
seeds on to attract the birds. they would put it on the flowers then
go back and hide behind the bushes and wait for about 15mins for
the bird to come back. get a few shots and do it all over again.

here's a few of my shots. It was really difficult
to get the exposure right and off course it all happens withing
a couple of seconds so easy to miss the photo opp. sorry don't know
what type of bird it is.

this was my favourite out of the keepers. again
the exposure is a bit screwy but it was midday and too
many others shooting the same thing to use my flash.


just a few more bird shots from around the park