Winter Hokkaido Workshop
Photograph Hokkaido's stunning animals & landscapes
Hokkaido is mountainous at heart, and has extensive forests, enormous coastal wetlands, craggy cliffs and offshore islands. In winter it’s famous for its small surviving populations of Blakiston’s fish owls, as well as its plentiful red foxes, abundant sika deer, winter hordes of whopper swans and dramatic concentrations of sea eagles. Most of all, it’s famous for its breeding and wintering population of grace embodied – the red-crowned cranes of east Hokkaido. It all makes for a landscape and wildlife photographer’s dream in any season, and we can take you searching for these animals through some stunning landscapes in your own private transport.
This is a premium tour with a maximum of four people in the group and your own personal professional photographer for the duration of the trip. He will take you to the best locations, provide photography tuition and take photos of you in action.
¥550,000 per person. There is a maximum of 4 people for this tour to ensure enough one on one tuition and space.
From the 18th – 28th February 2023. A total of 10 nights and 11 days.
Includes twin share accommodation, daily buffet breakfast and dinner, transport, boat trips, entry fees and your own personal guide and professional photographer for the entire trip.
We have put together an itinerary however occasionally this may vary slightly based on weather conditions and other factors beyond our control. Please click here for our full terms and conditions.
Accommodation
The accommodation throughout the tour will be a mix of hotels and Japanese ryokans. The rooms are very comfortable and most places have their own onsens and include a delicious buffet breakfast and dinner. The rooms are typically a twin share or double configuration but can easily be changed at an additional cost if requested.
Transport
We'll pick you up from the airport, and drop you back to wherever is convenient for you. Your guide will do all the driving, so you can sit back, relax and even enjoy a drink after our safaris. The cost also includes 2 boat trips at Shiretoko and all other entry fees associated with the tour.
Food
You will be supplied breakfast and dinner daily. Most will be buffet style with a range of Japanese and western options, and all you can eat! Drinks will be at an additional cost. If you have dietary requirements please let us know and we will do out best to accommodate you.
Photography
Your guide is a professional photographer with over 15 years experience and will be on hand throughout your tour. They will not only be there to offer shooting tips but also to capture some amazing shots of you in action. These images will be supplied to you in high-resolution via our digital archive within 2 weeks of the trip.
Who will this tour suit?
Photographers
Adults will enjoy the scenery, food and, of course, photographers will be in their element photographing the stunning landscapes and animals. There is a lot of driving and early mornings, and this is a shared tour with other adults so please take this into consideration if you plan to bring your children. In this instance it may be better to book a private tour just for your family, but please contact us and we can discuss options.
We will pick you up from Chitose airport in the morning and then drive to Biei stopping to get stunning landscape photos. The farmland, mountains and rivers along the way provide the perfect canvas for heart stopping minimalistic or black and white landscape photography. Once we arrive we will take you to visit the Biei Blue Ponds at night to see the colourful light show over the frozen water. You can then head back to your Japanese style room at Art Hotel Asahikawa. Here you can kick back and review your images from the day with your professional photographer guide, take an onsen and join the team for a delicious buffet dinner.
Explore the Biei, Tokachidake and Asahidake area for the day with the aim of getting minimalist and dramatic mountain landscape and wildlife images. The wildlife in this area are largely private and difficult to find, but on just about every tour we are lucky enough to see at least a deer, fox or Japanese racoon dog (tanuki). On this day will we also visit the famous and spectacular frozen Shirahige Falls. We will photograph sunset before spending another night in your Japanese style room at Art Hotel Asahikawa.
On day 3 your photographer guide will drive you around the Daisetsuzan mountain range towards the Lake Akan area. This will be a long day with lots of stops as the trip is absolutely mind blowing. This mountain range is incredibly beautiful and you will stop to photograph more waterfalls, gorges, lakes, rivers and if lucky some sika deer or foxes. This will be a big day of driving but very worth it. You will arrive at the lake district quite late, so you can go straight for an onsen and another buffet dinner before retiring to your Japanese style room at Akan No Mori Tsuruga Resort Hanayuuka.
Spend the day driving around the Lake Akan and Lake Kussaro area, stopping for photo opportunities and to photograph the spectacular whopper swans. In the afternoon we will drive to Shari where you will so a sunset shoot across the ocean before relaxing in your western style room at the Kiki Shiretoko Natural Resort.
This will be a sunrise start to catch the sea-bird watching boat from Rausu. We will then return to the hotel to have a late breakfast and then do some exploring around the Shiretoko area. In the evening we will have dinner and then go to shoot the Blakiston’s Fish Owl. Later that night you can retire to in your western style room at the Kiki Shiretoko Natural Resort.
This will be another early start on the photographers sunrise ice breaker ship at Abashiri to photograph more animals on the sea ice. You may sea Stella’s Sea Eagle, seals and other sea birds. In the afternoon do some walking/driving around the area and do another sunset shoot. In the evening we will have dinner and then once again go to shoot the Blakiston’s Fish Owl. Spend another night in your room at the Kiki Shiretoko Natural Resort.
On this day we will drive to Notsuke Peninsula to photograph the abundance of wildlife at the Nature Centre. We will then continue on to Nemuro where we will spend the night at the Hotel Sanyokan.
In the morning we will take the 9am wildlife boat from Nemuro. The sea ice doesn’t travel as far down as here so the water has a far more varied selection of birdlife to photograph and can often be more productive than Rausu trips. After this trip we will drive toward Kushiro where we will spend the night at the Kushiro Prince Hotel.
This day will start with an early morning sunset shoot at the Akan International Crane Centre and observatory in Kushiro where you will further spend the day photographing these magnificent birds and other local wildlife. Your photographer guide will then drive you to Obihiro in the afternoon where you can once again relax for an onsen and dinner the ANA Crown Plaza Kushiro. You can retire to your western style room, or you can even head out for a bit of culture and night time street photography with your personal photographer/guide.
On day 10 your photographer guide will slowly drive towards Sapporo, stopping along the way to photograph snowy farmland, mountains and wildlife. Once in Sapporo you will spend the evening exploring the northern city focusing on your street photography. You will also go out for a delicious traditional Sapporo Ramen or Soup Curry (depending on the groups preference). In Sapporo you will spend the night in your own western style room at the Royton Sapporo Hotel.
On this morning you will be able to gorge yourself on your final Japanese buffet breakfast before heading out to walk it off and explore a bit more of Sapporo. Your photographer/guide will then take you to Chitose airport ready to board your departing flight.
