Well, it’s only taken me 20 years but I finally made it to Japan!
I first heard of the Japanese/Manchurian/red-capped cranes back in the late 90s and was totally fascinated by their courtship dancing. Ever since I have been wanting to photograph them. Later I found out that during the winter you can also see the snow monkeys chilling in a hot spring and Steller’s sea eagles on the drift ice… I was sold. But the right moment never came and this trip has sat in a dusty corner of my bucket list for 20 years.
I have put together a sample gallery with images from this past February. Subjects include:
Japanese Macaque (Macaca fuscata)
Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)
Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus)
Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus)
white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
Black(-eared) kite (Milvus migrans lineatus)
Yezo sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis)
Ezo red fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki)
The full collection will be live at Getty Images later this year, in the mean time feel free to contact me for licensing.