Spring Barbeque '05

I was lazy all the way to sit before the dashboard and scribble a bit, well better late than never. Spring is suppose to be the best season in Japan. The onset of the spring is greeted by the blooming Sakura flowers. If your in Japan at this point of time then you cant miss the Spring Barbeque parties.

We set the table for the Barbeque Party at the Skypark near Matsumoto Airport. It was an awesome sunny day and a near clear sky and this happened to be my first Barbeque party on this planet. We made some veg curries at home and carried along for it turned out to be a saviour for the veggies.

I played for a while flipping and toasting the meat slices and then serving it. Basked around the park for a while before I started munching the curry-rice. For some of the Japanese colleagues the curries sounded a bit hot.

Shortly Ichikawa-san logged in with his kids and we had some fun playing baseball. Ichikawa-san started his shooting session with his Canon-EOS 10D. I had a feel of the camera and it was rock solid. But what appealed to me is the Lens : Sigma 18-200mm, obviously it was an cool consumer lens. I very much enjoyed the perspective that lens offers.

Ichikawa-sans friend checked in with his EPSON RD-1. The worlds first Digital Rangefinder. It looked more like a collectors choice. It had a Carl-Zeiss Lens mounted with f2.8. When I checkout the price of that camera, I just dropped my jaw in awe. Its 3000 USD. Well I was aware of Point and Shoot Cameras,35mm SLRs, Medium and Large Format Cameras but what is this new breed of cameras called Rangefinder. Back home I did my search on the www to figure out that it has its roots stuck deep in the past. The Rangefinder happens to be a hot favourite for some journalists. Though its very much digital all the settings in RD-1 are manual. Its ultra large view finder was very impressive, but shooting though it is somewhat like trying to blend 2 images,get them in focus and then click.

To be honest the second part of the Barbeque party was like a Photo Assignment and all trying to give their best. I was rather lost in observing the rest. There was this unusual clock in the park which drew attention every hour. The clock starts with a new tune 3-4 mintues ahead and then strikes the bells to the count of the hours when its dot on.

Over all its what I call a relished day.