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posted: March 31st, 2010 |
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This page begins with March 5th, a trip to Bubaigawara on a beautiful weather day. It takes you through the morning of March 14th - a trip to the Hakuba Area of Nagano Prefecture, here in Japan. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin March 5th |
On Friday, March 5th neither Kazuya nor I had to work. We went to Bubaigawara Plum Blossom Park (not the real name). On the way we passed this one very early cherry tree which was already in bloom. Precisely, it is Cerasus lannesiana. When the grasses are still brown and there isn't much to be seen as far as flowers, this tree and it's beauty struck us as AMAZING! The 3rd shot was taken directly into the sun - the sun is behind the flower. I used Shadow Illuminator Pro to render this photograph usable and then I framed it. The actual (un-retouched) photo was garbage.
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Here is a final shot of that beautiful cherry tree which was on the way to the park. The 2nd photo was taken inside the park. It is a Trout Lily (Erythronium japonicum). There was a large name-post in the upper-right corner and I used the vignette to hide it. You can still see a rope fence in the background, but there wasn't much I could do about that. I also Tone-Mapped this photo to bring out the beautiful pink hues. The 3rd photo is an orchid - Cymbidium goeringii. The one on our porch is also blooming now and I need to take some photos of that one soon.
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Here is a Cornus officinalis in first position. The 2nd and 3rd shots are Plum Blossoms. Plum Blossoms were the reason we came to the park today so I guess you should be shown some Plum Blossom photos. You can see a larger selection on Kazuya's Blog Site.
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Here are 3 more Plum Blossom shots. The first photo has had the colors brought out by Tone-Mapping. The 2nd shot - by Kazuya - is a bi-color Plum Tree. These are quite rare - to have pink and white blooms on the same tree. The 3rd shot is a beautiful shot of some very dense blossoms.
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Now the hour is getting rather late and the light is fading below what is good for photography. For the first shot I used the flash. For the 2nd shot I also used the flash, but the tree was too far away and it didn't have much effect, therefore I lightened this shot by using Shadow Illuminator Pro.
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| End March 5th, Begin March 13th |
On Saturday, March 13th, at 00:29 AM Kazuya and I boarded a special night train bound for Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture. Kazuya found some very specially priced tickets for this train, so it was a reasonable price. The center photo is actually the first photo of the adventure - Kamishiro Station, where we got off the train to do some hiking. The time of the 2nd photo was 5:41 AM - I used Shadow Illuminator Pro to lighten this photo enough so it was not just windows showing. The first photo was taken at the Hakuba Goryuu Ski Area at 7:53 AM, while we were waiting for the Gondola to open (it opened at 8:15 AM). The 3rd photo was 9:05 AM - me on rented snowshoes. The weather was rainy and miserable, not snowing like we expected it to be. Kazuya rented snowshoes in advance, so we had them waiting for us when we arrived at the ski area. We did put them to good use, even if only for a short time.
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The first photo in this row is Kazuya on his rented snowshoes. The 2nd shot is a rainy scenery shot. The 3rd shot shows the lifts which were at the top of the Gondola. We hiked down to the lift which you can see the bottom of and rode it to the top and started hiking from there.
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The first photo here is another rainy scenery photo. The 2nd photo is a very smiley Kazuya at 1,676 meters (5,499 ft.) - the summit of Jiizou-no-Kashira. The time is 9:46 AM. The 3rd photo is the rock mound at Jiizou-no-Kashira. We could not possibly have reached this spot without the snowshoes - at least not without a LOT of hard work. The snow was really deep, even though it was raining today.
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We didn't try to go any higher on the mountain, not in this weather. The first photo is a final rainy scenery photo. In the 2nd photo we are back at Kamishiro Station and the time is only 12:25 PM. We have already eaten lunch and we are waiting for the train to take us to the next place. In the 3rd photo - well, "here comes the train".
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It's now evening and this first photo was in our room at the Tsugaike Kogen Youth Hostel. It was a 6 person room, but we were told that we would be the only occupants, so we didn't feel bad about spreading our wet stuff out to dry. Before we came here we went to a Hot Spring and got warmed up and relaxed our muscles (after the snowshoe adventure). The rain finally changed to snow on the 30 minute bus trip to the Youth Hostel. The final shot of the day was taken out of the window of our room at the Youth Hostel.
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| End March 13th, Begin March 14th |
Now it's March 14th, Sunday. We are taking a Gondola to the top and going to climb up to Tsugaike Kogen. We don't have snowshoes today. The weather is high clouds, but no rain or snow at this time. We can see pretty good down here, but we can also see that the top of the mountain is in the clouds. The 2nd shot is around the top of the Gondola. This is a very famous ski area, so lots of people are around. There are several people with snowshoes too - guess several people are going to hike around. The 3rd shot is an interesting mossy tree which we passed as we walked to the next Lift.
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The first shot in this row is me stopped to take a photo. The 2nd shot is Kazuya with his gaiters on. The 3rd shot is a snow scene around a stream. Please go on to Page 2 now - the weather is going to clear up and the scenery is going to be amazing!
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| End Page 1, but March 14th continues on Page 2. |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 2 for the continuation of March 14th and some very incredible mountain & snow scenery photos. |
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