2017 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan | Tokyo

May 17 | Evan | No Comments |

The 2017 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan was shaping up to be quite a large group of photographers visiting Japan but suddenly some members had to drop out for personal reasons. In January I had pretty much accepted that the 2017 Cherry Blossom Tour was not going to happen when just as suddenly as the original group fell apart, 4 new members inquired about joining me on an escorted tour of Japan during cherry blossom season. Leading a smaller group of photographers through Japan certainly has it’s benefits and allowed us to do a couple of things that aren’t possible, or much more difficult, with a larger group. One of which was a fantastic home stay in the tea plantations in the outskirts of Kyoto, Japan (more on that to come).

As you can see by the photo of Chidorigafuchi above, even though the dates of this tour of Japan during cherry blossom season were almost identical to the 2016 cherry blossom tour of Japan, we were slightly early for full bloom of the cherry blossoms when the trip started in Tokyo. Not an issue though as it was easy to isolate some cherry blossoms in bloom or ignore the blossoms completely with many of the interesting subjects Tokyo has to offer for photographers, for example the “Shibuya Scramble” in Shibuya.

Of course street photography is as easy as it comes in Tokyo with opportunity after opportunity if you are patient and look for it. After meeting one couple at the airport in Tokyo, on the transfer into the Tokyo, I was asked to dial up a wedding to take photos of in Tokyo and wouldn’t you know it, the next day walking around during their free time, they found the wedding shoot I “arranged” like last summer in Himeji!

Created by and courtesy of Tim Durham

While we were slightly too early for the first few days in Tokyo for cherry blossoms, by the time we made our way back, the cherry blossoms were still holding on a bit, just starting to fall off the trees but still quite beautiful. See the gallery at the end of this post for more photos from Tokyo during cherry blossom season and some night time shooting of Shibuya Scramble.

The 2017 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan took our small group of photographers to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, Wazuka and Fuji Five Lakes. Take a look at the 2017 Cherry Blossom Tour Trip report to see more from our tour of Japan during cherry blossom season. Want to visit Japan during cherry blossom season with Japan Photo Guide? The 2018 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan for photographers has limited spaces available, book now!

: Created by and courtesy of Tim Durham

: Created by and courtesy of Tim Durham

: Created by and courtesy of Tim Durham

2016 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan | Fuji Five Lakes

Jun 01 | Evan | No Comments |

Mt. Fuji as a reputation for being really shy, especially while visiting the Fuji Five Lakes outside of Winter. For the 2016 Cherry Blossom Photo Tour of Japan, Mt. Fuji was operating about half of our photographer sessions in the Fuji Five Lake area. Our hotel was at Lake Kawaguchi (where the photo above was taken from) but we spent the first sunset by Lake Yamanaka. We got just a touch of color with a slightly hazy Mt. Fuji, but all things considered, our first photo session with the shy mountain didn’t go so bad! The next morning, after nothing much happening at Lake Tanuki (not one of the Fuji Five Lakes, but very nice place) we stopped by Shiraito Falls.

For whatever reason, Lake Shoji has always been good luck for me as you might recognize that the 2015 Cherry Blossom Photo Tour made some fantastic photos of Mt. Fuji from the shores of Lake Shoji last year. This year was similar as we had great a nice sunrise and mostly still water making for a great reflection of Mt. Fuji.

Photo created by and courtesy of Mami Yasui

Photo created by and courtesy of Barna Photo

As you can see, we had quite a few nice photos from Lake Shoji! Our group of photographers stayed at Shojiko quite a while both making photographs and just enjoying the view. Too bad didn’t have weather like this for all the times our group went out to photograph Mt Fuji.

By the end of our staying the Fuji Five Lakes area, the cherry blossoms around Kawaguchiko were starting to approach full bloom. One day was a little gloomy and quite windy, the next morning, clear sky and light wind making for some great reflections! The photo at the top of this post is my current desktop on all my computers and a vertical crop of it on my iPhone.

Our last morning of the 2016 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan at the Fuji Five Lakes was mostly cloudy but we still went out anyway hoping for something, or rather anything! We went out to Lake Saiko in hopes of being able to see and photograph Mt. Fuji one more time. To our surprise, when arriving at Lake Saiko, we could see most of the Mt. Fuji. While the clouds cooperated for a while, they covered Mt. Fuji just as the sun was coming up and color was starting to enter the sky. We were still able to make some interesting photos of Mt. Fuji for our last photo day of the tour!

Photo created by and courtesy of Barna Photo

With Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji Castle and Kyoto already visited, next up for the 2016 cherry blossom tour was the Fuji Five Lakes to photography Mt. Fuji along with some cherry blossoms. Our photo tour of Japan ended here but yours can start just around the corner! Interested in joining the 2017 cherry blossom tour? Please contact me today to start your trip to Japan during cherry blossom season or any other time you’d like!

By the way, I quite like the first photo in this post of Kawguchiko and Mt Fuji when it’s flipped upside… maybe even more that the right way up?

2016 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan | Maiko Portrait Session in Kyoto

May 29 | Evan | No Comments |

If you have stopped by my blog before, you may have noticed my group tours to Japan have participated in a few portrait sessions with real maiko as the subject of our portrait session in Kyoto. It’s rare for visitors or really Japanese as well, to meet a real maiko or geiko (geiko is what geisha in Kyoto are called), so it’s a special experience just meeting a maiko and even more specials to be allowed to take portraits of a maiko.

Photo created by and courtesy of Patricia Pomerleau

Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

Photo courtesy of and created by Kel Blake Photography

In general, the weather for the 2016 Cherry Blossom trip had been great, with only 2 days with really bad and rainy weather. One of our rainy days in Kyoto happened to be on the day we had a portrait session scheduled with a maiko. Cloudy would’ve been perfect weather to provide soft light for our portrait session in Kyoto, but rainy was almost as nice as we had a location that would keep the maiko covered and protected from the weather, but still could create some nice portraits with mostly natural light.

Photo courtesy of and created by Barna Photo

Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

As it often is, the portrait session was one of the highlights of our group photo tour of Japan! Below is a gallery of a few more of Patricia’s photos, my photos and also a few by Mami Yasui including some of the behind the scenes and our interactions with our lovely maiko!

: Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

: Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

: Photo courtesy of and created by Patricia Pomerleau

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

: Photo courtesy of and created by Mami Yasui

With Tokyo, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Himeji Castle already visited, next up for the 2016 cherry blossom tour was Kyoto, my favorite city in Japan! After Kyoto we would continue our tour of Japan to photography Mt. Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes, still chasing and photographing the cherry blossoms around Japan! Interested in joining the 2017 cherry blossom tour? Please contact me today to start your trip to Japan during cherry blossom season or any other time you’d like!

2016 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour of Japan | Portrait Session in Kyoto and Tokyo

May 28 | Evan | No Comments |

Photo created by and courtesy of Kel Blake Photography

While in the USA, my main business is small boutique portrait photography studio, so while on these photo tours of Japan, I always enjoy working in a portrait session or two if the other photographers are interested. For the 2016 Cherry Blossom Tour of Japan, we not only had a portrait session with a real maiko like in previous trips to Japan, but also had a few opportunities to take portraits while visiting both Kyoto and Tokyo.

In Kyoto, two members of our group decided they wanted to explore Kyoto wearing traditional Japanese clothes. After arranging for them to each rent a kimono, we went off into Kyoto for a portrait session. Kyoto is literally a picture perfect place for portraits, especially during cherry blossom season in Japan.

Once we returned back to Tokyo we also had a portrait session in Tokyo with a model in and around the Yoyogi Park area. It was a lot of fun taking portraits both in Yoyogi Park and also with Omotesando as the backdrop for some city portraiture in Tokyo.