2018 Cherry Blossom Photo Tour of Japan | Mt. Fuji

May 25 | Evan | No Comments |

In previous photography tours of Japan, I’ve spent a lot of time photographing Mt. Fuji from the Fuji Five Lakes, but for the 2018 photo tour of Japan in cherry blossom season we spent most of our time photographing Mt. Fuji from the Shizuoka side. One thing that really interested me about photographing Fujisan from Shizuoka was the idea of being able to get more city elements included with the mountain.

Mt. Fuji, perhaps Japan’s most iconic symbol, has a bad reputation for being too shy, often hiding behind layers of clouds. I usually tell the photographers on the photo tours of Japan that I will feel lucky if we have a clear view of Mount Fuji 1 out of 3 days. The 2018 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan set a new record for me though! On my previous photo tours of Japan, I’ve never had two days in row where we could see a clear view of the entire mountain, but for this year’s photo tour, we had a clear view of Mt. Fuji for at least part of the day, three days in a row. On the second day, it was so clear that if there was anyone hiking on the mountain, I’d know if they were a friend of mine or not!

The 2018 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour took a small group of photographers to Japan. We started in Tokyo and continued to Hiroshima, Miyajima, HImeji Castle, Kyoto and Mt. Fuji. Here is the trip report from the 2018 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan. The 2019 Cherry Blossom Photo Tour of Japan is already planned and live! Limited spots are available for the 2019 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan, with first booking already reserved! Below is a gallery of cherry blossom photos from our time spent making photos of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji.

2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Japanese Snow Monkeys

Apr 16 | Evan | No Comments |

Along with Chris Weston, I escorted a small group of wildlife photographers in Japan in search of Japan’s Winter Wildlife. View the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan Trip Report to see photos of Japanese Snow Monkeys, Red Crowned Crane, Swan, Steller’s Sea Eagles and whatever else we could find! I’ve already posted about the other Winter Wildlife so this post of the Japanese Snow Monkeys is the last of the 2018 Winter Wildlife tour of Japan.

Japanese Snow Monkeys. Having spent more than 10 days with them from my combined tours of Japan, I’ not sure what else I can say about them. Even with spending that many days with the Japanese Snow Monkeys, I still love observing and photographing them.

The walk to get there is a little long (30-40 minutes on narrow and snowy/icy path) but it’s worth it. After spending just a little time with the monkeys, it’s hard not to smile and enjoy the time with our distant relatives! I’m already looking forward to the 2019 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan so I can go back and see the Japanese Snow Monkeys!

2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Japanese Red Crowned Cranes in Snow

Apr 12 | Evan | No Comments |

Along with Chris Weston, I escorted a small group of wildlife photographers in Japan in search of Japan’s Winter Wildlife. View the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan Trip Report to see photos of Japanese Snow Monkeys, Red Crowned Crane, Swan, Steller’s Sea Eagles and whatever else we could find! This is the second of two posts of the Japanese Red Crowned Crane and next up, the Japanese Snow Monkeys.

So yes, the Japanese Red-crowned Cranes were in the snow the entire time we were taking photos of them, but one morning we had quite heavy snow, which was majestic to say the least.

Really glad my OMD EM1 Mark II and pro lens were weather proof! At one point though, the snow was so heavy it was almost impossible to focus, still beautiful though! More photos of cranes in the snow from the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan below:

2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan | Japanese Red Crowned Cranes

Apr 08 | Evan | No Comments |

Along with Chris Weston, I escorted a small group of wildlife photographers in Japan in search of Japan’s Winter Wildlife. View the 2018 Winter Wildlife Tour of Japan Trip Report to see photos of Japanese Snow Monkeys, Red Crowned Crane, Swan, Steller’s Sea Eagles and whatever else we could find! This is the first of two posts of the Japanese Red Crowned Crane and then off to the Japanese Snow Monkeys.

Our last stop in Hokkaido was in Kushiro in search of the Japanese Red-crowned Cranes. There are a few locations you can view and photograph the cranes though having visiting all of them last year, we had a good idea of where and when we wanted to be for the cranes.

The gray crane above is actually ironically a “Common Crane” as it was the only one there that day. Made for a nice contrast against the snow and other Japanese Red-crowned cranes. See more photos of the cranes dancing, paying and flying below!