While ruminating about the amazing photo ops you would have on an upcoming Hokkaido Photography Tour, we at Japan Dreamscapes (JDS) thought about more than the landscapes and wildlife that you could capture.  We started to think about some of the positive elements that photography can provide for you as a person.

In this digital age, once you have completed your Japan Photo Tour, you can share your favorite photographs with your friends, families, and the world via social media.  Facebooking has entered the modern parlance, and once you’ve posted your magnificent photos, you can access them freely and share the stories of your adventure to Hokkaido.

Beyond digital, the photos you take provide a social bridge with others as you spin yarns about the rugged terrain you hiked over the day you snapped the picture or the delightful conversation and exquisite cuisine that you shared that evening.  It’s all part of your personal narrative and an excellent jumping off point for you to share your experience with others.

Photography also provides you with a frame of reference for milestones in your life.  Think of the memorable photos that represent important events such as marriages and graduations.  Your first photograph of a Steller’s Sea Eagle or a Red-Crowned Crane from Hokkaido could also represent a watershed moment in your life.  It may be the day that you decided that you would become a birding photography enthusiast!

Finally, traveling and photographing let’s you stay in the moment and focus while composing the perfect shot.  All the concerns of your life beyond your photo tour melt away as you wait for the precise moment when the Blakiston's Fish Owl has spread its wings wide or perhaps the moment when it begins its dive to snatch its unaware prey.  Whatever moment you decide, you have the control over the photo you want to take, and that is part of what makes your photography with JDS individual and gratifying.