This year marks the 10th Anniversary of my workshops with Paul McKenzie in Japan. Paul has been going to Japan for 15 years for photography and I have been going for 11 years but we have been running the same tour now in Japan for 10 years. It’s incredible to think about photographing in the same locations for over 10 years and not tiring of it a bit. We have two more trips planned in the coming years and both are already sold out. We stay at the same lodge and have the same guide. We all work well together and both Paul and I enjoy our time in Japan as much as we did on our first tour. Our itinerary hasn’t changed much over the years and we have had a lot of repeat clients.
This year in Hokkaido, the weather gave us a curve ball. In the last 11 years in Japan I never once saw Lake Kussharo without ice, it was odd to see the water flowing freely. In addition to the main lake where we photograph the Whooper swans we didn’t have any pack ice for our eagle photo session. However, the flexibility of our guide and our great location opened up other opportunities. Photography in many ways is a series of curve balls and photographers must be able to switch gears on the fly and go with the flow.
Even with many changes in our itinerary, we were able to get our clients on some great photo opportunities and I am sure that they all enjoyed their time in Hokkaido and came home with load of wonderful images.
While we were in central Honshu, we had some snow for the Snow Monkeys. It is always a treat to get falling snow in addition to having snow on the ground, so that was fantastic for all. On snow days at the park, the monkeys are active and seem to play around a bit more.
This poor monkey looked so cold.
Near mid-air collision for thee two Red-crowned cranes. I used my Sony A1 and Sony 200-600mm lens for all of my crane images.
We had just a bit of now at the sanctuary
During our time in Hokkaido, we didn’t have much snowfall. Shooting the cranes in a snow storm is always high on my list of wants for the trip. We also didn’t have ice on our first visit to Lake Kussharo. Fearing the worst we were all a bit disappointed as usually the lake is frozen over. But on our second visit we killed it. Snow, ice and mist made the photography interesting.
We finally got some snow and ice for the swans at Lake Kussharo. I used my Sony A1 70-200 f/2.8 version II lens and my Sony 200-600mmlens for all of my swan images. I intentionally left the cooler tones in this image but I may rethink that as time goes on.
Whooper swans , Lake Kussharo
Whooper swans at Lake Kussharo
I tried this out, not sure if it works, but I wanted the swan to be out of focus and look more like a backdrop-I’ll keep working on it.
A frozen leaf held in time. Shot with my Sony 24-105mm lens.
Pan blur of frozen reeds by the water’s edge at Lake Kussharo. Shot with my Sony 24-105mm lens
Two hours north of Hokkaido there was pack ice as far as the eye could see but none in Rausu. However, the sea eagle trip turned out to be fan- freaking-tastic! There is a sea wall and it had snow and snow pinnacles on it. There were also a bunch of Steller’s sea eagles lining that wall. The sky was a soft bluish grey with a few storm clouds. There were random wind gusts that blew snow all around the scene making for some great conditions and photos. I used my Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 version II lens with my Sony A1 camera body for all of the eagle images.
Steller’s sea eagles
Interloper coming in….
Near white out!
Wind gusts created some great backgrounds.
Ural owls preening. I used my Sony A1 and Sony 200-600mm lens for this shot.
Ezo fox coming out of the reeds
Ezo fox close-up
Me with Dipper-the cutest Japanese guide dog ever! Our main guide Makoto Ando in the background, the cake was the star of the show, thank you Hickory Wind for this special honor to celebrate our 10th Anniversary.
Image courtesy Kathy Stearns Sergio