by glen on August 21, 2011
After a doubtful start to the day with a heavy downpour threatening the festival the sun returned stalls were relocated to drier ground and the festival went on.
(click on the images to view them at a larger sizes)
Young and old turned out in large numbers making this years festival a huge success.
One of the activities that really united the festival goers was the Bon Odori Dance – in this Bon Odori Panorama you can see the dancers making their way around the festival tower in unison.
There were a huge number of food stalls providing an amazing array of international foods from traditional Japanese festival BBQ to Indian and french flavors.
One of the more spectacular events of the festival was the Mochi and Candy toss where people scrambled to grab as much as they could.
There was a brief spell of rain which sent everyone in search for cover but this didn’t last long before the fire was raging.
The Yotei Taiko Drumming group fired up the crowd with a typically energetic performance and i did my best to get down the front and stay low to shoot this Yotei Taiko Panorama unfortunately i didn’t have space to move my big head out of the way !!
I put my camera away for the final fireworks display and enjoyed the moment with my wife and friends.
Thanks to everyone who contributed towards producing the event – no doubt a great time had by all.
Tagged as:
cultural,
Hirafu,
Hokkaido,
Japan,
Kutchan,
niseko,
panorama,
people,
Photography,
shops
by glen on April 25, 2011
Had the opportunity to attend the ANZAC Day Dawn Service held in front the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
The service started at 05:30 with hundreds of people in attendance gathered from all walks of life. Good to be able to pay my respects.
Lest we forget.
Tagged as:
ANZAC,
Australia,
cultural,
panorama,
people,
Photography
by glen on December 6, 2010
Finally after lots of preparation Momiji gallery opened last weekend. The opening was a low key affair and we opened from 1 until 7:30 and people dropped in throughout the day.
The gallery is divided into 2 sections, one half has been set up by Australian artist Margo Bartley who is displaying her own water colours and etching’s.
Also included in Margo’s section are 7 Japanese artists exhibiting a wide range of styles from oil paintings to Nihonga to contemporary works using plastics.
In my section of the gallery I’m displaying a range of prints from large panoramic canvas prints stretched over handmade wooden frames to framed archival matte prints shot in and around Niseko Hirafu.
The gallery will be open daily from 1 pm until 5 daily until the village becomes busier later in the month and is located in the middle village between Captain Hitafu and Ezo Seafoods on Momiji street.
Thanks to everyone who came by to take a look and hope to see some new faces soon.
Tagged as:
cultural,
Hirafu,
Hokkaido,
Japan,
niseko,
panorama,
people,
Photography,
Print,
winter
by glen on November 29, 2010
With the return of snow in the village today I thought it a good time to point out something that I really like about the build up to winter – checking out Yukigakoi.
Yukigakoi describes the splinted supports set up around small and manicured trees to protect them from the relentless winter snow. All pics taken last week – will check on these spots again later in the season to see how the Yukigakoi hold up.
Tagged as:
Autumn,
cultural,
Hirafu,
Kutchan,
niseko,
Photography
by glen on October 19, 2010
Last Sunday at Ishikari near Sapporo the festive DoRide
4 hour mountain bike enduro race was held and studio343 took part as a team member on the Groove Cycles team.
Proceedings took off with the obligatory speeches following by a spot of radio calisthenics much to the bemusement of our team.
(Click on the images to view them at a larger size)
The race kicked off at 10am and for the next 4 hours groove cycles flexed their collective might…
Our team of 5 took turns racing as quickly as we could around the muddy circuit then passing our riders sash to the next rider – one lap taking about 7 mins.
Another team from Niseko was representing Team Bionicon – RESPECT
The course was pretty flat but there were still some cool aspects
Unfortunately the weather turned nasty for the last hour of the race but Groove Cycles still ( cough cough ) dominated …. I think we mostly beat the kids teams, family teams and a few of the solo riders and rolled in at 29th.
Tagged as:
cultural,
cycling,
Hokkaido,
Japan,
mtb,
people,
Photography
