Welcome to the May 2019 newsletter.
It’s been a few months since my last newsletter. January in fact, but that isn’t to say nothing has been happening. The problem is that too much has been going on, which has meant my newsletter went a little by the wayside.
So what’s been going on since January this year? Travelling from one corner of the World to Japan. Mongolia. Scotland twice and back again to Japan. It has been relentless travel, but it’s been worth it to expand my portfolio of images as well as get ideas for future photo tours and workshops.
During March, I visited the Berlin travel show, and that has added more to my schedule than I anticipated. I’ve been offered the opportunity to go to Bhutan, Moldova, Vietnam, north-east India and a few other places. I did nearly end up in Patagonia during late March, but that’s another story.
So let’s head on into the trip reports to see what’s been going on, as well as give you some photography workshop ideas which may interest you.
January 2019 saw me head up to Glencoe in the Highlands of Scotland to run a photography workshop. January is normally a great time to catch the winter weather at its best, but this year we only had a light dusting of snow on the high peaks.
Despite this, the weather was the usual Scottish variety and we had a mix of wind, rain and a touch of snow in no particular order. It was mostly grey and overcast weather, but if you’re familiar with the Scottish Highlands, then it’s pretty much par for the course up there.
January 2018 had huge snowfall, and I was lucky to be up there running a photography workshop when it started. But this year our luck was out, and it only snowed heavily after the workshop had ended during the following weeks. As they say here in France…ça, c’est la vie!
So, what do you do when the weather takes a turn for the worse and it just starts raining? Improvise! For me, improvisation meant heading further north to Glen Garry and then the Glen Shiel area of the Scottish Highlands. Yes, it is a bit of a drive, but I would prefer that people are occupied with something rather than looking out of a hotel window, bored out of their brains. It’s not good for the soul, and I personally feel like I need to give people value for money when it comes to being in a workshop with me.
Here are two images from that week. You can see how changeable the weather can be up there and what it is that you need to be prepared for.
During the Christmas period of 2018, I had a decision to make. Do I head off to Hong Kong, or do I go somewhere else? If I go somewhere else, where do I go?
I decided that I would go back to Japan instead of going to Hong Kong. Why? During my first trip to Japan, I met a number of people from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Pretty much all of them said to avoid Hong Kong in February. It was likely to be foggy, and the weather just wouldn’t be good. In fact, it was better to wait until later in the year if I wanted to get the best out of it.
Having enjoyed Osaka so much during my first trip, I decided to go back again. But I also wanted to see the bright lights and cityscape of Tokyo, too. When it comes to cities I’m a sucker for amazing skylines and although Osaka is amazing it’s really Tokyo that is the winner here.
Outside of the two cities, I also wondered if I should go elsewhere in Japan. As I said, the cityscapes and views are amazing, but at times you need to get away from them and back to something more serene. So, more things were added to my schedule in the form of a day trip to Mount Fuji and a trip further north to see the famous snow monkeys in the hot springs.
The weather during February in Japan is supposed to be mostly clear blue skies and a little on the cold side. I had mostly grey skies during my trip, but not enough to ruin it or come away with nothing. It seemed that I would have decent mornings, but by the afternoon, a high-level haze would set in, and the chances of getting a decent sunset anywhere were pretty minimal.
My day trip to the Mount Fuji area was a recce for the forthcoming photography tours in Japan. The famous Chureito Pagoda that everyone knows is high on my list of places to take people, but I know that during peak periods, such as cherry blossoms and autumn that security guards can be a pain. What I wanted to do was see how people could be taken there, get their shots and not worry about security complaining about tripods.
The day around Fuji resulted in the grand total of one image. Yes, just one image! The train journey there took about three hours, then upon arrival, clouds had started to cover Mount Fuji. Another three hours later, and it had cleared, but by this time, it was around 11AM, and the light was becoming quite harsh.
But the snow monkeys were for me the absolute highlight. Having seen many images beforehand, I had built up in my mind’s eye what it was going to be like. I thought that I’d be there an hour or so and then head off elsewhere. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and what you can expect.
Firstly, to get to where the snow monkeys are takes a good couple of hours from Tokyo on a bullet train, followed by a local train service and then a bus. Next, a walk of around a mile or so on a gentle hill takes you to the entrance of the park, where they are.
The monkeys aren’t held in captivity and are free to roam anywhere they please. But what you find is that it is incredibly captivating to be so close to nature without any barriers between you and it. That hour or so turned into a good three hours or more! It’s very easy to fill a memory card in the morning as your lens chases around these fascinating creatures. I was also very lucky in that the weather was really nice and that there was snow around, which made it even more captivating. It’s certainly an experience I’d recommend, and one I’m trying to work out how to run a workshop there.
The first half of March saw me take a quick trip to Northumberland to meet up with some fellow photographers and vloggers. For me I decided to go over because although I am a British photographer, over here in France, I feel very much out of the loop when it comes to my own country. YouTube has, to some extent, opened things up a bit, but as a global platform, my work is being spread further again.
Just after Northumberland, I headed to Berlin for the annual travel show. It was here that I picked up some new contacts who have asked me to carry out various pieces of work for them. Will they come to fruition? I guess we’ll see, but here’s hoping they all do, as it should be an amazing adventure.
And then came Mongolia. That vast, open-spaced country that for many conjures up visions of eagle hunters and high mountains. But it’s only in the West where you can experience these two clichés that we in the West associate with their country.
So what went on in the Altai of Mongolia? Well, firstly, it took a couple of days to get out to the west. My group was held back by high winds that were buffeting the country, and so our scheduled flight kept being put back. But eventually, after two days or so, we were able to fly out to the west for what was to become yet another adventure.
What’s the adventure, you may ask? A trip to Mongolia is not a trip for those who want the creature comforts of home. Sure, the capital is like most modern cities, and you can have your four-star hotel if you desire, but once you leave this behind then your western values need to stay there too. But boys and girls, it is worth it!
When you go to Mongolia, if you show them that you’re prepared to put up with the same basic amenities as them then you’ll get far more out of them than if you say goodbye at the end of the day and head off to a hotel somewhere or some luxury ger with a hot shower. If you go to Mongolia, just do as they do in Rome and you’ll have a much better experience. Yes, it’s not the easiest existence, but you’ll get more respect from them.
Anyway, I digress. So once out in the Altai area, I had about a week of sleeping on the floor of three different eagle hunters whilst being allowed to photograph them and, of course, the surrounding landscapes. And are those landscapes amazing out west? Huge valleys and mountain backdrops. Frozen rivers and lakes.
You might wonder, with the frozen lakes and rivers, just how cold it is. You’re looking at temperatures of around -15°c or so, which sounds mind-numbingly cold. But Mongolia has a dry cold in contrast to Europe’s damp cold. If you just layer up properly, then you don’t notice it all. It was certainly quite balmy on some days, and it was only if the wind came up that you noticed any of those low temperatures.
The absolute highlight of the trip was the two-day eagle festival, where some of the remaining eagle hunters came together to celebrate and give us a show. A show that is captivating and enthralling. You’ll see the usual displays of calling the eagles, but add in the wives chasing their husbands with a whip and two men doing a tug of war with a headless goat, and you’ll see this is no ordinary festival.
The best way to get an idea of what I did is to check out the vlog that I did from my trip on YouTube.
Straight after Mongolia, I headed to the Outer Hebrides in North West Scotland. What happened? Well, mostly rain and awful weather, which is why I’m skipping over it. It did produce some work, but overall, it was a challenge, to say the least.
But in early April, a planned trip to Japan coincided when the cherry blossom season came around. Centred on Tokyo and a four-day excursion around Mount Fuji, the two weeks I spent over there were extremely productive in terms of location scouting and images taken.
Arriving at Narita airport east of Tokyo, it quickly became clear that the cherry blossoms were still in flower. My luck was in for one of Japan’s most famous sights. Could it be that I would get to Mount Fuji in time for the flowers to still be on the trees?
Two nights were spent in Tokyo before heading off to the Fuji Five Lakes National Park. During those initial two nights, I came to the conclusion that for cherry blossoms, Tokyo isn’t really the place to go. Yes, there are a number of parks around where you can see the blossom, but I was after temples and shrines surrounded by cherry blossom trees. Alas, it didn’t live up to my expectations.
But the Mount Fuji area did, although I was a little early to see the blossom in full flower. When I arrived, it had just started, and so those beautiful pink flowers weren’t quite there yet around the Chureito pagoda. And what of that pagoda? What’s it like during cherry blossom season? Dawn was at 530AM or so, but you have to be there a lot earlier than that to get a decent place. So when it comes to the planned photography tour, expect a VERY early wake-up call, folks.
Unlike my visit in February, I had hired a car to explore the area around Fuji Five Lakes. This opened up huge possibilities and gave me an opportunity to get far away from the tourist trails and start finding more of the real countryside of Japan. At times, there were definitely no other westerners around, and it was great to see a different side to the country.
The weather, though, wasn’t always on my side around Mount Fuji. One day, the area was blanketed in 30cm of snow! Hard to believe, but it happened and seemed unreal when you’re in the country for the delights of Spring.
After the unexpected Winter conditions, I headed back to Tokyo. I wanted to get more under the skin of the city and start finding some of the iconic views as well as a few other things of interest. To do this, I had one week left and despite the weather not quite playing ball at times, I came away with some images I’m happy with, both in terms of views and temple shots.
