Steve Happ Photography | Ramblings and dissertations

Raptors

Order: Falconiformes. Family: Accipitridae – hawks, eagles, buzzards, harriers, kites and Old World vultures Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) Swamp Harrier (Circus approximans) Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) Brahminy More »

Japanese Cultural Night #2

Saturday Night Live. Last night I went out to the second Japanese Cultural Night at the Ski-jo up the road(Furano, Hokkaido, Japan). The last one was a few weeks ago so I More »

Furano Skiing 3

Skiing at the Furano Zone. I woke up this morning an looked out the window and there was about ten centimeters of fresh snow on the cars. Which was a very good More »

On to Hokkaido

Arrived in Furano. I am so tired. My eyelids are drooping and my shoulders feel like the weight of the world is upon them. My head feels heavy and I am almost More »

Best Bird of the Year 2010

Best Bird of 2010 I saw a post on 10,000 birds about the best bird of 2010 so I was curious as to what defines the “best” bird of the year. I More »

2010 Birding Photography Retrospective

2010 Looking Back Well here we go again. Another year bites the dust. I can remember doing my Overview of 2009 just like it was yesterday. The new year of 2010 started More »

South America Overview

South America I flew into Buenos Aries from Sydney after a horrendous 14 hour flight. It took me a few days to readjust my body clock. Meanwhile I was really enjoying going More »

More Chicama Surf, Birds

More Surfing and Birds at Chicama, Peru. This morning after my surf at Chicama, I saw an Egret down on the rocks below the hostel. I had seen a couple of them More »

El Chaco, Paracas NP

El Chaco Birding. El chaco is the town and port at the entrance to Paracas Nature Reserve in Southern Peru. This morning after I arrived here, I went for a walk along More »

Bird of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Copacabana and Isla del Sol, Bolivia. The Puna Teal is found on the Andean altiplano. Its Chilean name is Pato puna. They have a black cap that extends to below the eyes. More »

Japanese Culture

January 23, 2012 admin No comments

Furano Cultural Night.

Last night I headed up the hill to the second floor of Furano Ski-jo for the first Japanese Cultural night for 2012. Last year I made a few videos of the cultural performances, and this year I had my camera. The light was not so good, so I was struggling to get decent photos.

Hand painting

When we first went in, the kids were getting their faces and hands painted by an artist. They were similar in style to the belly paintings which you will see later.

Japanese Dancer with fan

There were a few groups of dancers and they got some of the Gaijin (Westerners) up to have a go at using a fan and juggling. This lady looked like she was having a good time.

Japanese Dancer

Afterwards, the ladies got up on the stage so the gaijin could get their photos taken with the dancers.

Photo Opportunity

The belly dancers have faces painted on the bellies and then they dance around. This guy has been in training all year down the pub.

Furano Belly Painting

Here is a shot of the guys dancing with the belly paintings.

Furano Belly Dance

Japan Mountain Landscapes

January 17, 2012 admin 2 Comments

Snow Scenes.

We have not had any new snow for about three days now. It is getting a bit dire. I thought I might do some landscape shots today. I thought I might get the surrounding mountain sides around the ski resort at Furano. This one is looking to the right from the top of the Ropeway.

Halfway between Ropeway and Gondola

Here is what is called the Premium Zone or Kumatoshi. There is a massive crack about half way down so it is closed.

Premium Zone

This slope is called the Widow-maker for obvious reasons and is Keith and Grommet’s favourite run.

The Widow-maker

Above the Ropeway there is a double chair with pistes going off either side.

Above the Ropeway

And finally this is the jaws of ice hanging off the roof of the restaurant at the top of the Ropeway.

Jaws of Ice

Furano Skiing 2012/01/14

January 14, 2012 admin No comments

A Windy Day.

This morning I was not going to go for a ski because we only got less than five centimeters of fresh snow last night and the wind was howling. So, my reasoning was that the fresh snow would be wind-packed and not very nice to ski. But later on in the morning the sun came out, so I decided to go out and take some photos.

Looking towards the top of the gondola

When I got outside the wind was still blowing a bit, but I kept going, seeing it was such a drama getting all my ski gear on. I could not find hardly anyone to take any photos of. There were hundreds of beginners on the lower slopes but hardly any good skiers around.

Downhill Racer training

The sun had started to disappear by this time, and there were clouds rolling in a when I took my gloves off to take photos, my hands would start freezing up. It was so cold.

Grommet downhill racer

I eventually managed to get some of the racers training on the training run. At least I got some shots this morning. The snow off-piste was horrendous. As I had forecast, the fresh snow had been packed and was all crusty and yucky.

One of the big boys having a dig

Most of my photos today were taken at 1/1000 shutter speed and aperture of f/8.0. I had to up the ISO to 200 because the sun had gone away. The Canon 350D seems to take pretty sharp pictures for an old camera, but the burst is pretty horrendous. You can only take about four or five photos in a burst. It must have a pretty tiny buffer. Oh well, you make do with what you got.

Extreme Snowboarding

January 08, 2012 admin No comments

Furano, Hokkaido.

This morning the sun came out and there was no new snow, so I thought I would get out the camera and take some photos. I had been wanting to get some photos of the extreme snowboarders. Guys who lay right into their turns and are almost horizontal when they hook into their turns. I do not know what it is actually called. I just think it looks cool.

Laying it over

I did some research on that interwebby thingo and found out it is called Extreme Carving and consists of totally laid over in the snow with full body extension and linked heel and toe side turns. Extreme carvers aim to be smooth and fluid. I have been watching this guy ski all week and had wanted to get some photos of his turns, so today I finally did get some.

Extreme Carving – Turning almost horizontal

The backhand turns are just as good.

Backhand turn

Some other guys on ordinary snowboards were doing some nice turns as well. I think this dude is an instructor or something.

The Green Lantern

I overexposed most of these shots about a stop. That is to compensate for the brightness of the snow and to get some decent exposure on the snowboarders.

Close-up on the turn

And finally, from behind and going down the hill to get another perspective.

Going down

Japanese Wagtail and White-tailed Eagle

January 07, 2012 admin 2 Comments

Hokkaido Birding 7-1-2012.

This afternoon I set off with my video camera to get some footage of the Japanese Wagtails that I had seen under the bridge over the Sorachi River the other day. I stopped on the bridge and had a look at the gravel bank in the river under the bridge. Pretty soon I spotted a few Japanese Wagtails and eventually got some footage.

The Sorachi River

After I had got my footage of the wagtails, I spotted a White-tailed Eagle, and then another one. Eventually I spotted four all up. They were soaring above the river and finally came down to roost in some trees. I went for a walk to see if I could spot them in their roost, and by golly, that is what happened.

Video footage of Japanese Wagtail and White-tailed Eagle

I kept going for a walk along the road by the river and came to this little creek, which had been frozen over a little bit.

Frozen creek

This is a shot of the valley which must be farmed extensively as soon as the snow melts.

Furano Valley

Japanese Wagtail (Motacilla grandis).
The Japanese name for Japanese Wagtail is Seguro-sekirei. Se means back and kuro is black. Sekirai means wagtail. They are in the family of pipits and wagtails called Motacillidae. They breed in Japan and Korea, and are common in Japan from Kyushu north. They prefer the edge of waterways on gravel rivers, ponds and inland seas. The population seems to be stable and therefore is not approaching the thresholds for being declared Vulnerable.

White-tailed Eagle (haliaeetus albicilla).
The Japanese name for the White-tailed Eagle is Ojirowashi. They are a brown sea eagle with a white tail in the shape of a wedge. They migrate from Russia during the winter and breed in Hokkaido. In Northern Hokkaido, they feed on salmon after spawning in the interior rivers. They are related to our Australian White-bellied Sea-eagle, and is a close cousin of the American Bald Eagle. Females are a bit larger than the male. They have broad wings, a large head and a thick beak. Like the Stellar`s Sea Eagle, they have yellow talons, beaks and eyes when adult.

Snow Clearing

December 29, 2011 admin No comments

Furano, Hokkaido

This morning on my way up to the ski lift I spotted all the snow-clearing action, so I whipped out my camera to get all the Tonka-toy action. Us blokes love a bit of machinery. The snow had been piling up in bit lumps along the side of the roads, so I guess it was the day to clear it all up.

The snow chomper dumps it onto the trucks

The snow chomper eats up the snow and funnels it out to the trucks.

The grader comes along and cleans up behind the snow chomper

the procession winds down the hill

the digger cleans up the stuff left behind

the snow plough pushing the snow onto the side of the road

And everything is all cleaned up. The snow is taken away and dumped somewhere in the trucks. Nice clean streets again until it snows again. Which is tonight. See you next week.

Ski Photography

December 27, 2011 admin No comments

Furano Ski Resort 27/12/2011

Telemark skiing on Ohiroma run

Looking down on Furano town from the top of the Kitanomine gondola

Snowboarding the powder underneath the Link chair

Elegant telemark skiing on the Technical run

Telemark powder skiing on the Technical run/course

Telemark powder skiing again

Skiing the powder on the Technical Course

A White Christmas

December 25, 2011 admin No comments

Feliz Navidad.

I woke up this morning and did not realize that it was Christmas Day. I was wondering why everyone was going Merry xmas on Facebook, so I had a look at the date and it was the 25th. Doh! I had lost a day somewhere. But all was not lost. It was snowing outside and it was my first xmas in the snow. And it was snowing, so it was all good.

Snowing

I got all dressed up and headed out to the gondola. First run down and there was fresh powder all over the place. There was even boot depth on the pistes. It was nice and light as well. The previous few days have been a bit wet and heavy. I headed over to the link lift and had a ski down that and it was glorious. There had been a few other people on it earlier but there was still some nice fresh snow.

Kitanomine

The Furano side had some great snow and I was able to snaggle some nice stuff. Then I went up the chair lift higher than the ropeway and found some really deep snow right along the side of the piste. Some of it was knee high. It was light and fluffy and I had a ball. I skied that run until midday, then had some lunch at the bottom of the ropeway and had a few more runs, and by then I was pretty much exhausted.

Guy skiing down the road

When I got back to the hostel I took some photos of the receptionist’s dog. The dog’s name is Kai, which means “sea”.

Kai

All in all, it was a great xmas because I got a great present – a nice day skiing powder. That will do me. It has been the best day so far.

A bonsai looking tree

From Osaka to Furano

December 21, 2011 admin No comments

Finally Skiing.

I checked out of my hotel around 9am and headed for Shin-Imamiya train station. Jumped on a train going around the Osaka loop line and got off at JR Osaka. Then shifted across to the Kobe line and rode the rails to Sannomiya Station at Kobe. I was really early. I had miscalculated how long it would take to get to Kobe. I had a coffee at the station and took a few photos while I was waiting. There was a big long line of taxis waiting.

Taxis at Sannomiya Station

This is the Port Liner, which goes from Sannomiya to the Kobe Airport. I guess it is sort of like a monorail because it goes up over the city and across the harbour to the airport. Anyway, it is very good and just shunts you out to the airport with the minimum of fuss.

Kobe Airport Port Liner

I took a few shots of the planes landing and a few general scenery shots. I did not catch this one. I was on Skymark, which are pretty good. They get you there relatively cheaply.

Plane landed at Kobe Airport

I landed at Shin-Chitose airport on Hokkaido and had to wait a couple of hours for the bus to go to Furano. I was the only one on the bus, and halfway to Furano, it started snowing. I arrived at the hostel and find out that I am the only person staying there so I have the whole place to myself. This morning I headed up the hill and the Kitanomine side had been groomed to the max. There is heaps of snow and it makes a great base seeing it is so early in the season.

Furano Ski Resort

This shot is from the top of the gondola looking towards the town of Furano and Tokachi-dake mountain. Luckily it was a pretty clear day and you could see the mountains really well. Most of the time you cannot see them.

Furano and Tokachi-dake

I just pottered around the slopes getting my legs in and learning how to ski again. I had a bit of a wander off-piste but it was very heavy and wet so I did not spend much time there. The trees were all full of snow, so I guess there has not been much wind lately.

Snow-laden trees

This afternoon I went shopping and got all my groceries for the week. Tonight I cooked up this wicked Soba noodles and pork and vegetable stir-fry. I am going to have to do a post about one of my culinary creations. When I get inspired, perhaps.

Back to Osaka

December 19, 2011 admin No comments

Kansai Photography.

Today I got out with the camera in Osaka. After a very long day flying from Sydney to Cairns, then to Osaka, I woke up feeling a bit dodgy and it took me a while to get going, after going to the 100 Yen shop and then the supermarket. Breakfast was coffee, toast and a boiled egg.

Tempura vegetables in Kuromon market

After I got organised, I walked through Shin-sekai, then down to the Kuromon markets, which has a whole bunch of seafoods and other food-stuffs for sale. There were tempura vegetables shown above and these delicious tofu-wrapped rice balls below. I forget the names for these but I have made these myself. You roll up the rice and stuff them into these tofu pockets. yum yum.

Rice balls in tofu pockets

There were heaps of sea-foods as well. This was an octopus and some sort of rock cod I think.

Octopus and fish

There were puffer fish alive in tanks waiting to be skillfully made into fugu. I do not intend to try these. If they do not get all the poison out of them properly, you die!

Live Fugu

There are pickled vegetables as well as copious amounts of fresh vegetables and fruits.

Vegetable Shop

After that, I trekked on over to Namba and stopped on the bridge at Dotonburi to take some photos of the fashionable locals. There were a whole bunch of boys hanging around and going up to girls and working some type of scam or other. I never did find out what their gig was.

Cool Dude

Working that scam

The ladies were all decked out in their finest and looked absolutely fabulous.

Going Shopping

I was having heaps of problems with my exposures and kept switching from Aperture Priority Mode and Manual mode. I am still not used to this camera. I stuffed up heaps of shots by making them too dark.

Waiting for my man

There was not a lot of light as it was an overcast dark day, so the photos are not as sharp as I would like them. I could not get a fast enough shutter speed. Also, I am not so great at photographing people, so I will have to practice it a bit more. I must admit that I find humans to be quite interesting animals to photograph.

I vant to be alone

Recent Tweets
- RT @freocookster: #Perth tweeps - need volunteer tutors for @Missionaust education program http://t.co/hoxuiO0a Pls RT January 25, 2012
- @pseudoandsemime have you been snow-shoeing lately.? some more snow would be good but its still in good condition January 25, 2012
- thanks for the rt @patbumstead re Furano Cultural Night. http://t.co/TndX9JUS January 24, 2012
- @pseudoandsemime top day skiing today. hope more comes. yesterday was heavy as. January 24, 2012
- RT @pseudoandsemime: @steve_happ Thank you for #FF mention! How is your life in the middle of Hokkaido? // skiing eating sleeping January 23, 2012

Recent Posts
- Japanese Culture
  
  January 23, 2012 By admin
  Furano Cultural Night. Last night I headed up the hill to the second floor of Furano Ski-jo for the first Japanese Cultural night for 2012. Last Read More »
- Japan Mountain Landscapes
  
  January 17, 2012 By admin
  Snow Scenes. We have not had any new snow for about three days now. It is getting a bit dire. I thought I might do some Read More »
- Furano Skiing 2012/01/14
  
  January 14, 2012 By admin
  A Windy Day. This morning I was not going to go for a ski because we only got less than five centimeters of fresh snow last Read More »
- Extreme Snowboarding
  
  January 08, 2012 By admin
  Furano, Hokkaido. This morning the sun came out and there was no new snow, so I thought I would get out the camera and take some Read More »
- Japanese Wagtail and White-tailed Eagle
  
  January 07, 2012 By admin
  Hokkaido Birding 7-1-2012. This afternoon I set off with my video camera to get some footage of the Japanese Wagtails that I had seen under the Read More »

Recent Comments
- admin: thanks for your comments. I would like to see the »
- Janet: I love your photos. Furano is one of my favorite p »
- @steve_happ: thanks dawnie. »
- Dawn: Love the video! Happy Birding~Stay Warm »
- admin: thanks cindy.. :) »

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Raptors

Japanese Cultural Night #2

Furano Skiing 3

On to Hokkaido

Best Bird of the Year 2010

2010 Birding Photography Retrospective

South America Overview

More Chicama Surf, Birds

El Chaco, Paracas NP

Bird of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Japanese Culture

Japan Mountain Landscapes

Furano Skiing 2012/01/14

Extreme Snowboarding

Japanese Wagtail and White-tailed Eagle

Snow Clearing

Ski Photography

A White Christmas

From Osaka to Furano

Back to Osaka

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