Day 5: The Aquarium

Ruben has already posted about our trip to the Osaka aquarium, but I had such fun there that I wanted to share some of my pictures as well. This was the first time that I really felt like I got great use out of my new camera, a Canon EOS 30D. I walk around with three lenses:

Sigma 17-70 DC 2.8-4.5
Canon 70-300 IS USM II 4.0-5.6
Canon 50mm 1.8 USM III ("plastic marvel")

And I also had my 430EX flash. All of this is new to me, as is pretty much all DSLR photography, so I really didn't have a clue what I was doing. The aquarium was a *perfect* place to really shake out my gear!

Canon's super low-noise at high-ISO (1600) made it possible to get shots that I *never* could have gotten with my previous point-and-shoots. The plexiglass walls made flash *very* challenging, so the relatively fast speed of my Sigma and plastic marvel captured scenes unavailable to me. And the AI Servo focus was great for following fast moving fishies as they swam around their tanks. And the 430EX was great because I could turn it completely around with a diffuser and reduce the glaring light on plexiglass.

Essentially, I had a ton of fun. Yay!

So, here they are:

The aquarium is in the same center with "Tempozan Giant Wheel," the largest ferris wheel in Japan. We went on it last year, but it was pretty overcast this time, and the group I was with wasn't interested. Takes about 12 minutes to get around the entire thing.

At the entrance to the aquarium is a shell whose owner I wouldn't like to meet in a dark alley. It was about 10-feet tall. A little bigger and it could have been Gamera's! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamera

The otters were seriously cute. Very frisky and obviously having fun together.

This is in contrast to this bad boy, who was obviously way too cool to mug for the camera.

How about a slow motion fight - between two obviously perturbed turtles. Can't you see the fire in their eyes??

How about the Fu-Manchu fish?

Jim loves the kiddos, and they love him.

Everybody loves dolphins! Hey, that's flipper!

Apparently these are all fish native to the Chilean seas.

I found the leopard rays to be very changeable and present many facets to their personality. This one looks *just* like Dumbo:

And now he looks like a pig! Same fish? I dunno!

And this is the prize catch of the aquarium for this season, the Shamu of the Osaka aquarium - a whale shark.

Apparently, this guy knows that he's the reason for the season - look at his entourage! A rapper couldn't wish for more!

The "strangest fish in the ocean" is the California Sunfish. Cheryl said it looked like the poor thing had been run over, leaving only the half with the head. ;)

These tiger sharks look *wicked* - they knife through the water, without a fear in the world.

I hate bugs, especially bugs at the bottom of the sea.

Anchovies and few others (I think):

But jellyfish are cool!

Who's that guy behind the lens??

I'm just learning to take interesting pictures, but reflections fascinate me - can't get enough of 'em! And who's that down in the corner?

Three of us went to an IMAX 3-D movie (narrated by Johnny Dep and ... rats, I forget), all about creatures of the deep sea. As we left, I was thrilled to catch this kind perspective view. Isn't this stuff great?

On the way out, we came upon a street performer, an American juggler who spoke perfect Japanese. Tons of fun:

Finally, there was a really cute kid:

With a woman we assume is his mother. (Can you guess why we thought that?)

On the way back, while Tess was waiting out the mild rain, perhaps the best picture of the day:

It didn't make any sense to us, either. Perhaps you might submit *your* interpretation. Thanks!

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I did taking them,

---Jason