One of the elements of being a professional explorer and photography workshop leader is scouting locations. And when I hear of other companies or would be photo explorers on social media stating that they just returned from a week or two of scouting a region and are ready to bring clients in the following year, I am absolutely shocked and have a pit kind of feeling it in my stomach, and I put them in a little booklet of pro photographers never to work with. Personally, I need at least three to five years to scout a region before I am comfortable bringing clients fellow explorers in to photograph in a new region. I have returned to many of the same locations for years so that my team and I know the roads, backroads, and trails that barely resemble roads, so any Japan Photo Tour you take with me will be one in a million. It is a matter of personal pride and safety that no matter what the occasion, my team and I have a back up for our back up.

Also, I always carry with me Zen and the beginner’s mindset, which allows me to return to locations over and over so I can approach a similar landscape with new eyes, and of course, there will be different weather patterns and skies on each visit; I love finding a new experience to share with my camera and test long and wide-angle lenses finding the hidden scene with my clients and friends. Niigata is home all year long to hundreds of varieties of migratory birds, and, in my opinion, its autumn colors are some of the most breathtaking. Only a short trip from my Niigata office are some of the most amazing golds, reds, and oranges that anyone can find during fall. This year after four years of scouting a new route, I was supposed to be with six clients on my business class First Essence of Autumn Cross Country Journey, indeed the Authentic Japan that I love, but I’m optimistic that next year that this photo workshop will have a green light to go with the beautiful colors all over the countryside.