Winter Hokkaido

[zoossh]

Thanks for sharing ur winter shots in Hokkaido, thedaniel. I will be probably visiting in Feb nxt yr, and looking at ur pics already made me itch.

Is the trip a DIY trip ?

There are a couple of places that you visited that I planned to include as well such as Biei. Seemed I cannot even see the roads well, makes me think hard about driving. But I would seriously love to capture their famous trees in their patchwork / panoramic roads. Winter made the ones I took in summer look unexciting.

The Otaru festival that u took - is it their Snow Gleaming Festival ? I always had the impression they floated the candles down the canal instead of tying lighted bulbs across

Ryan

ya, makes me itchy to change my plan for next year too... maybe will organise one...

 

[giantcanopy]

I will take this train to Minamichitose and change another train heading for Hakodate

OMG . u went one round Hokkaido and went all the way south to Hakodate ?
Whats your whole travel itinerary like :bigeyes:

The last time I travelled the long hours south, and met the heavy rain with no view from the top of Mt Hakkodate, I cannot imagine when will be the nxt time I go back. Maybe the next time when I migrate and stay in Japan :bsmilie:

ya, makes me itchy to change my plan for next year too... maybe will organise one...

I thought u wanted to go Europe :bsmilie:
Organise one zoossh , if i go earlier I will share my itinerary as always. If you went earlier I will take reference for my Winter honeymoon trip

Ryan

 

[thedaniel]

OMG . u went one round Hokkaido and went all the way south to Hakodate ?
Whats your whole travel itinerary like :bigeyes:

The last time I travelled the long hours south, and met the heavy rain with no view from the top of Mt Hakkodate, I cannot imagine when will be the nxt time I go back. Maybe the next time when I migrate and stay in Japan :bsmilie:

Yes. I went one round Hokkaido including Hakodate. I mainly targets the Winter festivals held throughout Hokkaido. But still I have to miss quite a number of the festivals as my cash and leave are limited.

My itinerary is like this
Otaru - Visit Otaru canal
Sapporo - Sapporo Snow Festival
Asahikawa - Asahikawa Winter festival, Asashiyama Zoo(Penguin Parade), Sounkyo Ice Festival (Unable to go, no time), Biei
Abashiri - Intent to take the Ice Breaking cruise (cancel as there is very limited ice)
Sheretoko shari - Shiretoko Fantasia
Kushiro - Visit Lake Akan Ice Festival
Obihiro -Lake Shikaribetsu Kotan or Tokachi River Swan Festival. Finally decide on Lake Shikaribetsu Kotan
Hakodate - Mount Hakodate
Sapporo - Ishiya Chocolate Factory.

My itinerary is very pack and most of the time is spend on train and bus. I took very much lesser pictures as compare to the previous year when I visit Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto.

Yes, Weather is unpreditable. It was clear on one day and heavy snow the next. Sometime you need to have 2 days for each destination to be safer and reduce the rushing. But again, I'm a poor man and have to fully utilise the time there.

 

[emlee]

Nice series, great pictures, but sometimes, the tilted angle shot used too frequently. just my view.

#61 Ltd Exp Super Oroza arriving at Obihiro train station platform.

I will take this train to Minamichitose and change another train heading for Hakodate


#62 On the train. A small river.


#63 Many trees are grown to be logged when they are thicker


#64 I wish I can jump off the train and took a better shot.


#65 Snow, Trees, Mountain and Rivers

​

 

[thedaniel]

Nice series, great pictures, but sometimes, the tilted angle shot used too frequently. just my view.

Yes, I agree with you too. The camera is heavy and after holding the camera straight or sometime seating in the train, my hand start to get cramp.
So the camera starts to tilt and when a nice view comes into view, it's too late to adjust back.:bsmilie:

 

[zoossh]

I thought u wanted to go Europe :bsmilie:
Organise one zoossh , if i go earlier I will share my itinerary as always. If you went earlier I will take reference for my Winter honeymoon trip

Ryan

europe this year. tentative central asia next year.

 

[thedaniel]

#66 The train goes above the highway

#67 Minamichitose Station Platform.

This is a staion where many people will switch train and heads towards New Chitose Airport.
I was schedule to arrived at this station at 11am but reach at 11:04am. I need to switch to another train toward the direction of Hakodate at 11:05am!!! I jump out of the train but relieved to find that the train will arrived just accross the platform. I waited and waited for 10 minutes but no train arrived and soon I found out that I'm the only one left on the platform. I headed to the control station to check did I miss the train. After checking with the station master with their limited English, I realised that the train will be late for 1.5 hrs. I had intended to make a stop at Lake toya for 2 hrs but now it seems that it was imposible.

#68 More grass with little snow

#69 Stop over at Lake Toya Station.

But never got a chance to view Lake Toya as my next train will arrived within 30 mins time

#70 Reaching Hakodate soon

 

[raghnall]

This is a staion where many people will switch train and heads towards New Chitose Airport.
I was schedule to arrived at this station at 11am but reach at 11:04am. I need to switch to another train toward the direction of Hakodate at 11:05am!!! I jump out of the train but relieved to find that the train will arrived just accross the platform. I waited and waited for 10 minutes but no train arrived and soon I found out that I'm the only one left on the platform. I headed to the control station to check did I miss the train. After checking with the station master with their limited English, I realised that the train will be late for 1.5 hrs. I had intended to make a stop at Lake toya for 2 hrs but now it seems that it was imposible.

Wow.. This is probably one of the rare times I'm hearing about late trains in Japan. A couple of my friend were always telling me about how punctual the trains are in Japan when they were there for half a year..

Fantastic photos.. I'm really itching to go Hokkaido!!

 

[thedaniel]

Wow.. This is probably one of the rare times I'm hearing about late trains in Japan. A couple of my friend were always telling me about how punctual the trains are in Japan when they were there for half a year..

Fantastic photos.. I'm really itching to go Hokkaido!!

Yes. very rare indeed. It could be due to train fault or the heavy snow the night before that requires some time to clear it from the rail track. They make some announcement in Japanese that I couldn't understand. The worse part is the display at the platform and inside the train station will still show the initial train timing even when the train is delayed and they will not show the new timing although they do make English announcement when the delayed train arrived. I was told the new arrival time will be 12:22pm by the station master but the train that actually arrived at the platform was actually heading back to Kushiro. I nearly board that train. The dealyed train heading for Hokodate only arrived at 12:30pm.

 

[alexljy]

Really beautiful shots. And I think the white balance handling looks really nice, I have seen many friend's photos on snow with rather weird white balance.

Could you share, was any exposure compensation used?

 

[hcelrah]

Really nice shots you got there.

Thanks for sharing these pics, Winter in Hokkaido seems to be a nice destination, It'll probably by me destination next year.

BTW, how did you manage to take shots when snow is falling? Is the lense hood enough or you are using an umbrella?

 

[pat33]

Great set of photos ... thanks for sharing.

 

[thedaniel]

Really beautiful shots. And I think the white balance handling looks really nice, I have seen many friend's photos on snow with rather weird white balance.

Could you share, was any exposure compensation used?

Tks, Normally I will increase the exposure by 2/3 to 2 stops. But the main important thing is to look at the histogram. Since this is a snow scene, there will be a hill shape on the right side. Make sure the hill is very close to the right edge of the histogram. Use your exposure compensation to control it.

Really nice shots you got there.

Thanks for sharing these pics, Winter in Hokkaido seems to be a nice destination, It'll probably by me destination next year.

BTW, how did you manage to take shots when snow is falling? Is the lense hood enough or you are using an umbrella?

Yes, Hood is always on and I sometimes uses umbrella when the snow gets too heavy. But this will also means you have only one hand to control your camera.

Great set of photos ... thanks for sharing.

Thank you

 

[thedaniel]

#71 Mount Hakodate
The first thing to do on arriving at Hokadate is to visit the most famous mountain here.

#72 The sky is dark

#73 A close up

#74 Many visited this place

#75 Looking out of my hotel room. Not a single snow in sight.

 

[jueluo]

nice pics and nice colours, congrats you finally made this trip real

not sure if I am bias, but I think everywhere in Jap there's always a good shooting spot, all pics taken will come out like a masterpiece. okay maybe I AM bias :lovegrin:

Good old Biei, pity you didn't stayed there long enough, but you got that experience so next time you go, you know what to do :thumbsup:

 

[guitarboutique]

Very nice pics. I just been there in FEB....now i know why they called it a winter wonderland.

May I ask how you get that tilting effect in your pictures for eg. #30?

 

[thedaniel]

nice pics and nice colours, congrats you finally made this trip real

not sure if I am bias, but I think everywhere in Jap there's always a good shooting spot, all pics taken will come out like a masterpiece. okay maybe I AM bias :lovegrin:

Good old Biei, pity you didn't stayed there long enough, but you got that experience so next time you go, you know what to do :thumbsup:

Yes. finally made this trip and thanks for recommending Biei to me.

True. every where in Japan is a good shooting spot. Just close you eyes and press the shutter and the picture still comes out great.

Next time must prepare will conquer the whole Biei;p

 

[thedaniel]

Very nice pics. I just been there in FEB....now i know why they called it a winter wonderland.

May I ask how you get that tilting effect in your pictures for eg. #30?

Tks.

If you are referring to the #30 train leavng Biei, I just tilt the camera in a slight degree. If you are reffering to the tilting trees in #29, I took this using a wide angle lens. Point the camera up or down will crecauseare the titling effect will be present

 

[thedaniel]

#76 Hakodate Morning Market

One of the attraction of Hokadate was to visit the Morning Market.
But on the day I tour around, there wasn't much people around and it was also drizzling.

#77 Bargaining for best price

#78 Man checking his live stock

#79 Package it to last longer

#80 Price isn't cheap

 

[STTNP]

Mind sharing your tips for all the sharp photo?
Cos I dont PP most of the time.