What’s Up?
Aided by strong tailwinds, my flight to LAX arrived an hour early. I hung out with Donna Bourdon and Bev Sill in the Delta Club where I ate much too much (as I did on the entire trip). My 9:50pm red-eye, tailwind-aided, non-stop flight to Orlando took only 3 hours, fifty minutes. Amazing. […]
What’s Up?
As I typed this blog post it was just before 5am in Hokkaido on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 which is just before 3pm on Tuesday February 23 on the east coast. The whole group flies this morning from Hokkaido to Tokyo’s Haneda. After a 12-hour layover I fly with Donna Bourdon and Bev […]
What’s Up?
On Monday February 22 we made the drive back up to Rausu. It was looking like sunny with blue skies the whole way. With wind against sun that would have been the kiss of death. But as we pulled into Rausu it had clouded over and begun snowing. Our pretty much private boat […]
Bird Photography Tips for the Serious Photographer B&H Video
B&H just posted the video of the Bird Photography Tips for the Serious Photographer program that Denise Ippolito and I did a while back. There is tons of great info for those who would like to learn. You can access the video here. This should be […]
What’s Up?
Well, our prayers were answered as it finally snowed in Hokkaido. We awoke on the morning of February 21 to a foot of fresh snow. Most years it snows on average every other day or three. We enjoyed a late afternoon session with the Red-crowned cranes landing and dancing and, as seen in […]
What’s Up?
On the morning of February 21, 2016 our prayers were answered as we awoke to a foot of fresh snow, our first of the trip. On previous trips it had snowed an average of every day or three. We did quite well that afternoon with the cranes flying and dancing in the field […]
What’s Up?
On Saturday we went back to Lake Kussharo for more Whooper Swan photography and more ramen noodles. The morning was superb on all counts. After the success noted below with the 600 II/1D X combo at Akan on Friday, I concentrated on the incoming swans in flight with that same tripod-mounted rig. I […]
What’s Up?
On a still misty morning our Japanese master naturalist and photo guide knew just where the group should be to create some great images. We had a ton of fun making images of the river in the golden marsh and lots of little detail images of frost covered leaves and bamboo leaves. After […]
What’s Up?
With no pack ice anywhere near Rausu we took a small gamble on Thursday, made the long drive, and were rewarded with 90 minutes of non-stop action on Stellar’s and White-tailed Sea flight photography. We had Korean barbecue for lunch on the way home and then a most special dinner: Okonomiyaki prepared by […]
What’s Up?
We left the lodge way early and spent an entire day with the wonderful Whooper Swans. We did OK in the pre-dawn trying for the Paul Mckenzie overhanging branches stuff and then got lucky well after sunrise with backlit onsen (hot springs) steam images. Then another great lunch at the world’s best ramen […]
What’s Up?
We enjoyed our best morning ever at the Otawa Bridge with the cranes in the mist. And yes, it was cold. Next we photographed Ural Owl, and finished with a perfect session of flight photography with the wind behind us, the cranes landing right at us, and a sky of White-tailed Sea-eagles and […]
What’s Up?
We photographed at dawn at the Otowa Bridge in Tsurui Japan but it was not cold enough for mist and a low lying layer of clouds killed the yellow light we have been hoping for. It is just after dinner on Tuesday night here in Japan which is just before breakfast on Monday […]
What’s Up?
Our Japanese photo guide called a friend to the north and learned that it was not raining much up there so we loaded the vans and had two great sessions with the swans and lunch at an amazing ramen noodle shop. It pays to have local connections. I worked the whole day with […]
What’s Up?
Our travel to Hokkaido was uneventful. After the 1 1/2 hour flight we arrived at our lodge and enjoyed a late dinner that included some amazing curry and some even more amazing mushrooms and snap peas. It is just before 8am on Sunday morning; we are all sitting around the breakfast table hoping […]
What’s Up?
Me, early at 3:35am Japan time on Saturday which is 1:35pm on Friday afternoon on the east coast. I had a nap on Friday afternoon and slept a good 6 1/2 hours last night. Today is a packing and travel day as we take our chartered bus back to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and […]
What’s Up?
We enjoyed another great day at the Monkey Park. There were lots of tender moments, lots of interactions, and lots of fights; good luck photographing those! There is a new small restaurant at the bottom of the hill so we quit early and enjoyed the world’s greatest hot chocolate and some pretty good […]
What’s Up?
It is just before 6am here in Nagano, Japan. I had forgotten how elegant the 150 year old very traditional Snow Monkey Park Hotel is. We enjoyed our first of three amazing ten course Japanese dinners last night. As always when in Japan, I visited the onsen for a traditional hot springs bath. […]
Tuna Market image courtesy of and copyright 2016: Donna Bourdon What’s Up?
I slept for a few of the 11 1/2 hours long flight from LAX to Haneda. Donna Bourdon, Beverly Still, and I got to the hotel just before midnight Tokyo time on Monday evening. I was in bed by 12:30 […]
What’s Up?
It started work on this blog post on Sunday while laying over–heck, it was only 7 hours, not 8 as I originally figured–at the Delta lounge in LAX. It was 1:02 PM Pacific time as I began to type. My flight to Tokyo was set for 4:50pm. As I said, one breath at […]
What’s Up?
I began this blog post on Thursday past and am finishing it on my MCO to LAX flight on the way to my connecting flight to Tokyo. It is an amazing world that we live in: I am online on a jetliner at 30,000 feet via free GoGoInFlight passes from my Platinum AMEX […]
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