Depth-of-Winter-Nagano-Japan Limited Edition 20 prints total.
Part of a small limited edition Series I will steadily be releasing. This image was taken in the depth of winter during my first trip to see the snow monkeys of northern Japan. I traveled on a late night bus to ensure arrival in time to catch the first train which would ultimately time my arrival to the snow monkey park at just before the gate opens. However the same reason I chose this day to arrive, ultimately led to me arriving late. In fact the bus was the only bus which departed Shinjuku that evening heading north as all others were cancelled. Still it made the journey successfully. Arriving at Nagano station in the dark I had about 1 hour before the first train arrived. Snow was falling outside the station and temperatures were very low even north Japan standards, reminding me of the year I lived in Alaska in my youth. When the train arrived, it rolled in very very slowly, and was covered with Ice including a skirt of Icicles. It was beautiful and filled me with a deepened sense of my day ahead during the blizzard. Still dark locals who generally dress surprisingly light in Nagano were bundled up and many were clearly very cold as the trains heater seemed to be having problems, with any heat generating quickly escaping and being replaced with an arctic chill at each stop when the doors opened. I fortunately came very prepared as working on a mountain in the lower 48 and living in Alaska as a child taught me it's always better to be too warm rather than too cold. As the train moved on into the wind, snow, and slow hints of sunrise it began to slow little by little until reaching an outright crawl just as landscapes began to be visible to the naked eye, and then it stopped on the tracks for a very long time. It was during this time as the sun began to hit the mountains in the distance that I aimed my medium format camera at the emerging landscape. At times snow flurries made it impossible to get a clear image, but as if by destiny, there were beautiful moments of comparative calm, revealing the beauty in front of me. I was beginning to sense I may not arrive on time to the monkey park, if at all, but was so enchanted by this landscape that I would have been fine staying here all day and exploring it more intimately. However the train did begin to move again, in the opposite direction! It went to the last station where we directed to busses but ultimately re-directed to the train. Apparently there was severe ice on the tracks ahead which at the last moment was cleared. Ultimately I arrived at the park about 1 hour late, as the storm subsided. Of course I wanted to capture the snow monkeys during the blizzard, however I would not trade these landscape photos for the world. I am in fact planning a full day trip to this area this winter when the weather is similar.