Current Workshop List
2011 Snow Monkey and Hokkaido Nature Photography Workshops (below)
Color Managed Digital Workflow Seminar - Aug 7, 2010 Kickoff! New!
2011 Snow Monkey and Hokkaido Nature Photography Workshops
The Best Japanese Wildlife and Nature Photography Tour and Workshops Ever!
If you've ever wanted to shoot the beautiful wildlife and nature of Japan but have been worried about the language barrier, this is an opportunity not to be missed. Your host, Martin Bailey, is totally fluent in Japanese both written and spoken, and his knowledge of the locations we visit and subjects we photograph is unrivaled.
Due to the growing popularity of these Photography Tours, we are pleased to announce that there will be two workshops in February 2011, not one. We have also teamed up with a professional tour operator company, and a member of their staff will be with us throughout, to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. This also enables Martin to concentrate on making this your Japanese Photography Tour and Workshop of a lifetime. Read on for details...
Table of Contents
- Winter Wonderland Photography Tour & Workshop - 12 days (Feb 13 - 24, 2011)
- Hokkaido Whirlwind Photography Tour & Workshop - 5 days (Feb 7 - 11, 2011)
- Information Common to Both Tours
- Reservation
- Payment Buttons
- Additional Information
- Related Blog Posts and Podcasts
- Phew!
Winter Wonderland Photography Tour & Workshop - 12 days (Feb 13 - 24, 2011) - ¥495,000 (approx US$4,950)
This twelve day tour and workshop is a travel and photography experience of a lifetime. Slightly slower paced than the Whirlwind Tour (below), we stay in four of the seven hotels for two nights each, meaning you don't have to uproot every morning. This also gives us the opportunity for structured lectures on digital photography work-flow and color management, in collaboration with X-Rite, as well as critique sessions for those that want to take part.
Starting on February 13 with two and a half days photographing the amazing Japanese Macaque, affectionately known as the Snow Monkeys. These amazing monkeys are one of the Japanese mainland's biggest attractions for the winter wildlife photographer. On the afternoon of the 15th, we make our way to Tokyo Haneda airport where we spend one night, and then fly to Hokkaido early on the morning of the 16th. This marks the start of 9 days in Eastern Hokkaido photographing some of the most breathtaking winter wildlife and landscapes in the world. Based on feedback from previous tours, this tour now has more workshop elements than the Whirlwind Tour, as we integrate a number of structured lectures and critique sessions.
For the first two days and dawn on the third day in Hokkaido, we spend a lot of time photographing the Red-Crowned Cranes, in a number of locations around Kushiro and Akan. Fingers crossed for low temperatures and little wind at dawn on the 17th and 18th, in the hope that we'll get river mist and frosty trees at least on one of these two days.
From the afternoon of the third day (18th), we spend two days shooting Whooper Swans at Kussharo Lake, as they warm themselves in the hot spring waters that flow into the lake. We'll also aim to capture the swans in take-off and landing, working on panning techniques, as well as environmental shots of the swans in this beautiful setting. After a dawn shoot at Bihoro Pass, mid-morning of the fourth day in Hokkaido (19th) is set aside for a lecture at the hotel, as well as a critique session for those interested in participating, then it's back out to photograph the swans again in the afternoon until sunset.
We have another dawn shoot at Bihoro Pass on the 20th (optional, depending on how the previous day went), then we head over to the Shiretoko Peninsula and the port town of Rausu where we shoot Steller Sea Eagles and White Tailed Eagles among other sea birds. On the evening of the 20th, we will visit a location that is visited by Blakiston's Fish-owls, with facilities to photograph them from.
At dawn on the 21st and 22nd we shoot the Steller's and White Tailed Eagles from a chartered boat. We can shoot seabirds including possibly eagles in the Rausu Port during the day, and on the morning of the 21st we have lecture and critique session at the hotel, or a rest for those that prefer. After our second shoot from the chartered boat on the 22nd, we move to the Notsuke Peninsula and shoot wildlife and landscapes, then spend the night at Odaito on the mainland side of the Notsuke Bay, and have a small but definite chance of photographing a misshaped sun (sometimes square, sometimes wine glass shaped) from behind the hotel at dawn on the 23rd.
On the afternoon on the 23rd we travel to the other side of the Shiretoko peninsula and photograph the Oshinkoshin waterfalls and sea ice in Utoro, and will photograph sunset over the sea ice, or go into the Shiretoko National Park as conditions and time allows. On the morning of the last day, the 24th, we photograph Ezo Deer and possibly foxes in the Shiretoko National Park, then fly back to Tokyo late afternoon.
During the tour, in addition to the structured lectures, instruction on shooting techniques for each location and subject is given on the bus on the way to each location and sometimes on the previous evening over dinner. Martin also walks amongst the group on location, offering help and advice, and answering any questions as they come up. The focus is on you making the most of the locations and subject matter, while learning how to capture them successfully.
This tour starts at 7:00AM at Shinagawa, Tokyo on February 13th, and finishes on return to Tokyo Haneda Airport at approximately 17:25 on February 24th, 2011. Full details of the meeting points with maps, full itinerary and other useful information will be sent to you after booking. There will also be a private forum in Martin's Photography Forum to exchange notes with Martin and other participants while you prepare for your trip.
Hokkaido Whirlwind Photography Tour & Workshop - 5 days (Feb 7 - 11, 2011) - ¥245,000 (approx US$2,450)
This is a fast paced five day Wildlife photography tour and workshop, targeting the active photographer with time and/or budget constraints. We visit most of the places that the Hokkaido leg of the twelve day tour (above) participants will visit, but with less time to become accustomed to shooting in each location. Starting on Monday February 7th, we focusing on Eastern Hokkaido's wonderful wildlife, with some spectacular Landscape opportunities interwoven. Martin preps the participants with shooting advice between locations and on the previous evenings over dinner. He also walks among the group on location, providing as much or as little help as you need.
We will be photographing Red-Crowned Cranes by mid-morning on the first day, and have a chance of mist on the river and frosty trees on the morning of the second day, if conditions are right. It has to be very cold with no wind, so keep your fingers crossed! On the afternoon of the second day we go on to shoot Whooper Swans at Kussharo Lake, then have a dawn Landscape shoot overlooking Kussharo Lake from Bihoro Pass on the third morning. After breakfast we head over to the Rausu on the Shiretoko Peninsula, where we shoot Steller Sea Eagles and White Tailed Eagles among other sea birds. At dawn on the fourth day we shoot the Steller's and White Tailed Eagles from a chartered boat. On the afternoon of the fourth day we shoot the Oshinkoshin waterfalls and sea ice in Utoro, and will photograph sunset over the sea ice, or go into the Shiretoko National Park as conditions and time allows. On the morning of day five we shoot Ezo Deer and possibly foxes in the Shiretoko National Park, then fly back to Tokyo late afternoon on the 11th.
This tour starts at 6:30AM at Tokyo Haneda Airport on February 7th, and finishes on return to Tokyo Haneda Airport at approximately 17:25 on February 11th, 2011. Full details of the meeting points with maps, full itinerary and other useful information will be sent to you after booking. There will also be a private forum in Martin's Photography Forum to exchange notes with Martin and other participants while you prepare for your trip.
Note that we do not shoot the Snow Monkeys or Blakiston's Fish Owls on this tour. This is only available as part of the twelve day tour (above).
Information Common to Both Tours
Accommodation
We stay in traditional Japanese hotels and sometimes larger luxury hotels, with great food, sometimes buffet style, and relaxing hot springs baths that will please the most discerning traveler. When possible, those traveling alone will be in individual rooms, but some locations do not have the infrastructure to support this, and you may be asked to share. This may happen at the Snow Monkey location, and the first night in Hokkaido for the five day tour, and the first two nights on the twelve day tour. Also some people might have to share on the night of the 22nd. This should not be necessary on any other night, though this cannot be guaranteed. The cost of the tour is based on 1 to 2 persons per room.
Who are these Workshops for?
- Anyone with a love for wildlife, nature and landscape photography, and that can handle a bit of cold weather
- Anyone that wants to improve their photography while shooting the photographs of a lifetime
- In general, tuition assumes a basic understanding of photography and your equipment, but Photographers of all skill levels are very welcome
- Advanced or professional photographers will also benefit from this Workshop, and take away some new skills and certainly some great photos
- Japanese food is among the finest in the world, but it can be a shock to some Westerners. You'll enjoy this tour more if you are willing to try foreign food
What is included in the Packages?
- Flights from Tokyo Haneda airport to Hokkaido and back
- All accommodation and meals
- A chartered bus with professional driver to transport us around the island for the entire trip
- A representative from our Tour Operator travels with us throughout
- Admission fees to planned facilities and excursions, such as the chartered boat to photograph the Eagles
- Nominal tuition and other administration fees
What is NOT included in the Packages?
- Your flight or travel fees to the meeting points in Tokyo, Japan, or back home after the tours
- Hotels while traveling for any night prior to or following the tour/workshops
- Beverages or additional items ordered during meals etc.
A Word on Insurance
Our Tour Operator carries all standard insurance necessary by Japanese law, but you are advised to consider the following insurance yourself.
- Travel Insurance -- Although not mandatory, if you have an accident or fall ill during the course of the trip, hospital fees and other expenses can be expensive. You are advised to take out travel insurance for yourself for the entire length of the trip in advance of departure
- Gear Insurance -- You are advised to insure your photography equipment and belongings if not included in your home or travel insurance. If you already have your gear insured, double check that you are covered for international travel too, if you are visiting Japan from another country
- Cancellation Insurance -- If for any reason you have to cancel and incur cancellation fees, cancellation insurance can help you recuperate your costs
Reservation
To book your place, you are required to pay a deposit of ¥50,000 (approx US$500) by credit card, Paypal or bank transfer. Credit Card payments are processed by Paypal, or you can use your Paypal account, if you have one. Use one of the buttons in the table below, for your selected tour. If you'd prefer to pay the full amount up front, select that option from the buttons below.
Important Notes Before You Book:
- If you opt to just pay the deposit now, the remaining balance is due no later than November 30th, 2010. You will be mailed a Paypal Payment Request, or you can send the balance by bank transfer.
- All fees are payable in Japanese Yen (¥) and will be converted to your local currency by your credit card company. US Dollars ($) are given as a guide, using an exchange rate of ¥100 per dollar. Please check the exchange rates yourself when making payments.
- If you want to book for more than one person you can change the numbers after you jump to PayPal.
- Each tour/workshop is limited to a maximum of 12 participants. If you intend to book for a group of more than two people, please contact us before making payment, to ensure that there are enough places left open. If your mail arrives before someone else books places that displace your booking, you will be given preference.
- We will try to update this page and remove the payment links as soon as possible after the tours are sold out. If you pay your deposit after the 12th person for each tour has booked, your payment will be refunded in full, and you will be given the option to join our cancellation list.
Payment by Bank Transfer
If you would prefer to pay by bank transfer, please contact us request our bank details. Again, if your mail reaches us before someone else that displaces your booking, you will be given preference. Note that you must specify that you pay all transaction charges when filling out the transfer request.
Cancellation Policy/Fees
If you cancel your reservation the following charges will be payable:
- If you cancel before 21 full days before the start of your selected tour there is no charge
- From 20 full days to 8 days before the start of the trip cancellation fees are 20% of the cost of your tour/workshop
- From 7 days to 2 days before the start of the trip, cancellation fees are 30% of the cost of your tour/workshop
- If you cancel the day before the start of the trip, cancellation fees are 40% of the cost of your tour/workshop
- If you cancel on the day of the trip, before the start time, cancellation fees are 50% of the cost of your tour/workshop
- If you cancel after the start time of the trip, or just don't turn up, cancellation fees are 100% of the cost of your tour/workshop
- Any bank or transfer charges incurred on accepting and/or refunding deposits or payments will be deducted from the refunded amount
Disclaimer
By booking on any of these photography tours and workshops you agree that Martin Bailey, Martin Bailey Photography and our tour operator shall not be held responsible for any part of the itinerary that cannot be realized due to adverse weather conditions, forces of nature or any other circumstances out of reasonable control.
Additional Information
What will I learn?
- This really depends on what you already know, but if you aren't already up on the following techniques, by the end of the tour you will know...
- How to shoot in Manual mode to overcome difficulties when shooting subjects that move from light to dark backgrounds and vice versa
- All about exposure, including calculating exposure shifts, especially when in Manual mode (mainly for wildlife)
- How to control Depth of Field (for wildlife and landscape) and shooting at Hyper-focal Distance for landscape work
- How to select an optimal focal length and compose effective images, and "edit" the scene, getting it right in camera
- Effective shooting techniques with post process panorama stitching for landscape work in mind
- Panning techniques - to track cranes, swans and eagles taking flight, in flight and landing
- Focusing techniques - how to make the most of your camera's focus, and improve manual focusing
- Stabilization techniques for telephoto lenses
- Long exposure techniques
- How to shoot and stay safe in extreme weather conditions
- About Japanese culture and history, as well as the habits of the wildlife we'll photograph
What should I bring?
Equipment:
- An SLR camera. High-end compact digital cameras with a long zoom might work if they are new and have virtually no shutter lag, but otherwise, an SLR is recommended
- If possible, a second SLR body to enable you to shoot with a standard or wide angle lens at the same time as telephoto. There's rarely enough time to switch out lenses as the action occurs
- Lenses:
- Telephoto lens; no shorter than 200mm, but 300mm or longer is advisable. If you have a 400, 500 or 600mm lens, BRING IT!
- 1.4x Teleconverter or Extender; If you buy this for the trip, make sure you get one that works with your telephoto lens. If the longest lens you have is 200mm, a teleconverter is a must
- Standard lenses; a 70-200mm is perfect for both landscapes and close wildlife. Standard zooms like a 24-105 will be useful too
- Wide angle lens; prime or zoom for Landscape work
- We may have some uses for a macro lens, but if weight doesn't allow, leave it out
- Also consider extension tubes as an alternative to a macro lens, again, if you are trying to cut down on the gear you bring
- Sturdy Tripod - If possible taller than your eye level when standing up straight, as the legs may sink in the snow
- At least one strobe unit with some sort of remote trigger for the Owl shoot, if you are joining the 12 day tour.
- A cable release or remote timer switch for landscape work (May be able to use 2 second timer with mirror-lockup instead)
- Polarizer filter to fit your wide and standard focal length lenses - Not so necessary for your telephoto
- Spare batteries. If you shoot digital, try to bring three times more batteries than you would usually use in one day for older cameras. If your camera was released in 2008 or later, double what you would usually use should be enough. Either way, remember that they're long days, and battery life diminishes some in the cold
- If you shoot digital, make sure you have plenty of memory, and portable storage or a laptop to backup your shots to so that you can format your cards and fill them again. Also use a card case that you can keep in your pocket. You can't always get back to your bag quickly enough to get fresh cards
- If you shoot film, bring enough for about four to five weeks of shooting. Really, there'll be a lot of photography, and you can't buy film easily where we're going, if at all
- A small LED flash light or head light, so that you can see what you are doing when setting up for a shoot before dawn
Prepare for the Cold
The Hokkaido winter is not for the faint-hearted, with temperatures ranging from 0°C (32°F) to as low as -30°C (-22°F) for early morning and mountain shoots. It is important to protect yourself and your equipment from these conditions. For this, you will also need:
For your equipment:
- A good camera bag, that all of your gear fits in. You'll need to put all your gear back in your bag before going in from the cold to stop condensation forming on your gear
- A few medium sized plastic bags to fit your camera in if you take it out into the cold without your bag, to stop condensation forming when you go back into the warm. Also to protect it while shooting in snow if it's not weatherproof
- Large, strong rubber bands to keep the plastic bags in place on your lens if that is your weatherproofing
- A towel or large cloth is often useful for protecting your lens and/or camera from snow. If you have a proper cover that covers both your camera and lens, this will help too, but probably not necessary. A cloth or towel often work better
- Some kind of taping or foam padding on at least one of your tripod legs, to stop your hands from sticking to it in extreme cold
For yourself:
- Good thermal underwear, long-johns and long sleeved thermal under-shirts
- Warm quilted trousers, like the ones used for skiing, but not loud colors that might alarm the wildlife
- Waterproof (preferably Gore-Tex or similar) trousers
- A down jacket or waterproof (preferably Gore-Tex or similar) jacket with a thick warm fleece under it
- Thermal Boots with a sole good for walking on snow and ice, and thick warm socks
- Warm hat or hood on your jacket
- Thin pair of thermal gloves, with rubber grip on the fingers and palm, or the fingers cut away, so that you can operate your camera with them on
- A second, larger pair of over-gloves are sometimes useful, especially if your under-gloves are fingerless.
- Polar Fleeces, three or four if possible, as we won't be in one place long enough to have things washed
- Thin fleeces or mid-shirts, to make adjusting to various conditions easier
- Hand Warmers and Foot Warmers (that go inside your boots) will be provided, but if you have a bran that you like, bring some.
- Hand warmers that burn solid fuel sticks are the best to put in your pocket to keep warm, but you cannot bring the fuel onto the plane. If you bring solid fuel hand-warmers, let us know, and we'll send some fuel sticks on in advance.
- If you are concerned about or prone to sea sickness, see your doctor or ask a qualified chemist for advice on what sea-sickness medication you should use, and bring some for our morning on a boat shooting eagles. (Usually we are too excited to get sick, but you never know.)
Related Blog Posts and Podcasts
If you are interested, you might want to check out the following blog posts, workshop related podcasts and videos.
Blog Posts
Here're some blog posts (with embedded images and Podcast audio) in which I discuss the 2010 Tours. There is also a little background on how we are improving the 2011 tours based on valuable feedback from participants. The 2011 tours and workshops will be the best ever!
Podcasts
- Episode #237 : Hokkaido Photography Tour and Workshop 2010 #1
- Episode #233 : Snow Monkey Tour and Workshop 2010
- Episode #178 : Winter Wonderland Workshop 2009 #1
- Episode #179 : Winter Wonderland Workshop 2009 #2
- Episode #182 : Winter Wonderland Workshop 2009 #3
- Episode #183 : Winter Wonderland Workshop 2009 #4
- Episode #184 : Winter Wonderland Workshop 2009 #5
- Episode #125 : Hokkaido Workshop/Tour Jan 2008 - Day 1
- Episode #126 : Hokkaido Workshop/Tour Jan 2008 - Day 2
- Episode #127 : Hokkaido Workshop/Tour Jan 2008 - Days 3 & 4
- Episode #128 : Hokkaido Workshop/Tour Jan 2008 - Day 5
Note that all of these Podcasts and many others are also available in iTunes.
Video Slideshow from 2008
There is a slideshow of images from the participants of the 2008 Tour in a number of formats:
- Photodex Producer version for Windows (Requires a plug-in but you can right click and go full screen!)
- You can also download the video file via iTunes.
- Flash version that works on all computers.
Phew!
Congratulations! You made it to the bottom of the page!
In closing, note that after you sign up, you will receive a PDF document (no later than October 2010) to help you with your preparations. This will contain a detailed itinerary and hotel phone numbers etc. to leave with your loved ones while you are away. You will also be given advice on Japanese customs and etiquette to help make your stay in Japan as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. There will also be a private forum in Martin's Photography Forum to exchange notes with Martin and other participants while you prepare for your trip.
If you are interested in coming along but want more information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Double check your mail address if you use the contact form, because if it's not valid, I won't be able to get back to you. You should receive a copy of your mail too, so if you don't see this, or you don't hear back from me in 48 hours, please add the domain martinbaileyphotography.com to your spam white list, and mail again.
I look forward to seeing you in Japan, for the photography tour and workshop of a lifetime!
-- Martin Bailey