John Howard
Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.
Other than with Geographic Expeditions and National Geographic, has anyone done a photography tour of Japan? Any recommendations RE operators of private or small group tours. Want to shoot the landscape and the culture.
Thanks
47greyfox
Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range
Take a look at the Overseas Adventure Tours cultural Japanese tour. Not a photographic workshop, but provides plenty of opportunity. We did the 19 day option, which adds a pre- and post extensions. OAT excursions are small group tours of about a dozen people participating.
I can't comment on tours, but having just come back from Japan two days ago, I can warn travelers that the major tourist sites are PACKED with other tourists, including a stunning number of Japanese student groups. We kept asking ourselves why these kids weren't back in school studying, but maybe it was the end of the school year and the teachers wanted to get out of the classroom. Anyway, the point is that getting an unpopulated image of the major shrines will be extremely difficult. If you talk with a tour agent, you could try to get a feel if the itinerary seeks to avoid these highly trafficked areas or not.
47greyfox
Loc: on the edge of the Colorado front range
MrBumps2U wrote:
I can't comment on tours, but having just come back from Japan two days ago, I can warn travelers that the major tourist sites are PACKED with other tourists, including a stunning number of Japanese student groups. We kept asking ourselves why these kids weren't back in school studying, but maybe it was the end of the school year and the teachers wanted to get out of the classroom. Anyway, the point is that getting an unpopulated image of the major shrines will be extremely difficult. If you talk with a tour agent, you could try to get a feel if the itinerary seeks to avoid these highly trafficked areas or not.
I can't comment on tours, but having just come bac... (
show quote)
Our tour was in August last year and your point is a good one! We saw the same thing. Another observation, foreign tourists frequently rent traditional Japanese clothing, so your shot of a family in kimonos may be be tourists from Omaha. 😳
John Howard wrote:
Other than with Geographic Expeditions and National Geographic, has anyone done a photography tour of Japan? Any recommendations RE operators of private or small group tours. Want to shoot the landscape and the culture.
Thanks
Look up the Nikon Museum. I called ahead and was offered a one-on-one guided tour — in English! Then I spent a couple hours just walking around, shooting whatever pics I wanted. Here’s my Flickr page of my day there.
https://flickr.com/photos/146558244@N03/sets/72157664519482127
We had a lot of success with Samurai Tours -
www.samuraitours.com - a US/Japan business, based in Denver. They really understand Japan and Americans! We toured the southern islands and travelled mostly on public transport (with a guide!) so got to see more of the country than with a conventional tour.
Highly recommended!
47greyfox wrote:
Take a look at the Overseas Adventure Tours cultural Japanese tour. Not a photographic workshop, but provides plenty of opportunity. We did the 19 day option, which adds a pre- and post extensions. OAT excursions are small group tours of about a dozen people participating.
I second this response. We've done four OAT tours (but not Japan) and all were very easy for photographers. Having said that, they are not dedicated photo tours and taking tripods or really big lenses would probably be an inconvenience to you and the other travelers. The good thing about OAT is their trip leaders are exceptional and really let you get into the country and culture you are visiting. We will continue to use them.
I lived in Japan for almost a year and as far as the students being out of school that's very unlikely beings they go to school year-round they get two weeks off they all wear uniforms and you're going to find crowds at any Shrine you go to there are some wonderful shrines the great Buddha of Kamakura Kyoto the shrines their the golden Pavilion it's too numerous to list but it's a beautiful place for photography
John Howard
Loc: SW Florida and Blue Ridge Mountains of NC.
Thanks all for the feedback. Wondering how you are dealing with historic sites not permitting tripods. Low light hand held is a challenge. Yes I know the usual list of solutions, but they are not perfect.
did you know that when I think it was Eisenhower, christened that plane he got it wrong but the wrong name stayed. it was supposed to be the RS-71 blackbird. he said "SR-71". trivia, lol. (rescue & surveillance ?)
sr71
Loc: In Col. Juan Seguin Land
Me thinks your probably thinking of Johnson, when he let it out with a slip of the tongue.....Ike was out of office in 61....interesting mistake for sure
both before my time but I knew I was close, lol. And yes very interesting. :-)
sr71
Loc: In Col. Juan Seguin Land
racerrich3 wrote:
both before my time but I knew I was close, lol. And yes very interesting. :-)
If you haven't yet google youtube Brian Shul's LA SPEED STORY....this gentlemen has no "quit" in him..
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