This morning was very overcast with flat light - perfect for photographing white(ish) swans against white snow. The cloudy conditions meant that the swan morning wake up was pointless so we got to lie in and didn’t depart until 7.30am.
It was snowing lightly with no wind as we got off the bus and it was lovely shooting in that. Not particularly cold only -3. The snow just continued to get heavier as the morning wore on. Finally we’d run out of options, the swans were not moving around much and the weather was getting worse. I was happy as I'd got the chance to do some more minimalist landscapes even though the footprints hadn't been filled in yet - hopefully I'll get the chance to remedy that tomorrow.
We had lunch & followed it with an ice cream cone. That's a first, walking about eating an ice cream while its snowing. Our guide Mari is absolutely lovely, she has been to NZ and was talking about the All Blacks at lunchtime. Lugby - yep that took me a second or two. She also can't say crab it's clab but she is a darling so we don’t laugh. There is a standing joke about meeting in the 'robby'.
It's blowing & snowing heavily now, turning into a storm, so I'm glad we are not still out there. Not sure how much of a storm it will be, they think gale force is about 45kph here - hah! So it's an afternoon off. The others are all probably downloading and checking their images. I headed straight for the onsen. I'd not been in it in daylight before, so sitting outside in scalding hot water watching the snow swirling through the trees. Beautiful.
I guess if you were intrepid you could conceivably trek through the woods and snow to watch the women (or men) in the outdoor onsen. But as Japanese society is very proper and totally used to segregated bathing I doubt the concept even crosses anyone's mind.
It was snowing lightly with no wind as we got off the bus and it was lovely shooting in that. Not particularly cold only -3. The snow just continued to get heavier as the morning wore on. Finally we’d run out of options, the swans were not moving around much and the weather was getting worse. I was happy as I'd got the chance to do some more minimalist landscapes even though the footprints hadn't been filled in yet - hopefully I'll get the chance to remedy that tomorrow.
We had lunch & followed it with an ice cream cone. That's a first, walking about eating an ice cream while its snowing. Our guide Mari is absolutely lovely, she has been to NZ and was talking about the All Blacks at lunchtime. Lugby - yep that took me a second or two. She also can't say crab it's clab but she is a darling so we don’t laugh. There is a standing joke about meeting in the 'robby'.
It's blowing & snowing heavily now, turning into a storm, so I'm glad we are not still out there. Not sure how much of a storm it will be, they think gale force is about 45kph here - hah! So it's an afternoon off. The others are all probably downloading and checking their images. I headed straight for the onsen. I'd not been in it in daylight before, so sitting outside in scalding hot water watching the snow swirling through the trees. Beautiful.
I guess if you were intrepid you could conceivably trek through the woods and snow to watch the women (or men) in the outdoor onsen. But as Japanese society is very proper and totally used to segregated bathing I doubt the concept even crosses anyone's mind.
 From my 5th floor window, it's the same outlook as the onsen on ground floor |  From yesterday |
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