Red crowned cranes perform a happy dance in Hokkaido, Japan - tancho tsuru in Japanese, are a National Treasure and have been a beloved symbol of longevity and love, luck, happiness and fidelity. The couple will mate for life. Courtship displays and shrill crying is thought to strengthen their bond and show excitement. They also seem to dance for the sheer fun of it.  

Jennifer Ackerman wrote in National Geographic, “The Japanese have written the tancho into poems and folktales and myths. They have painted it and made statues and sculptures to it… From its habits they have drawn phrases and metaphors to describe their own behavior. They have imitated it and tried to dance as it dances. They have named streets and cities after it. They have folded it into tiny birds of paper and hung them carefully in colored festoons at temples and shrines… Most of all they have made it into an icon and put its image everywhere, so this extremely rare bird is, ironically, seen throughout Japan."

Happy Dance  #84/88

Photography becomes magic when rain falls in Times Square, one of my favorite places to shoot. A tribute to Dave Krugman’s drip drop collection. Taken on 42nd Street outside of Regal Theatre.

The Ride

Spark Lake. Photo ID #13057  

 Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟) is best known for its dozens of blue and turquoise-colored lakes. A national park, it is one of China’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

 I first visited the park in 2007, shooting during four different seasons for the National Geographic story, Mystic Waters: Jiuzhaigou. Subsequently, and luckily, I made an additional four trips before the site suffered heavy damage in a magnitude 7 earthquake in 2017. Friends tell me several of the waterfalls were destroyed and some of the lakes and ponds were drained. Closed for repairs, it was reopened to the public on a limited basis just last year. Only a small number of tourists -- 2000, down from the 20,000 who visited before the quake -- are allowed in per day. My body of work on Jiuzhaigou represents the largest collection of photographs by a single photographer outside of China.

Seasons of Jiuzhaigou #53

Arrow Bamboo Lake. Photo ID #12526  

 Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟) is best known for its dozens of blue and turquoise-colored lakes. A national park, it is one of China’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

 I first visited the park in 2007, shooting during four different seasons for the National Geographic story, Mystic Waters: Jiuzhaigou. Subsequently, and luckily, I made an additional four trips before the site suffered heavy damage in a magnitude 7 earthquake in 2017. Friends tell me several of the waterfalls were destroyed and some of the lakes and ponds were drained. Closed for repairs, it was reopened to the public on a limited basis just last year. Only a small number of tourists -- 2000, down from the 20,000 who visited before the quake -- are allowed in per day. My body of work on Jiuzhaigou represents the largest collection of photographs by a single photographer outside of China.

Seasons of Jiuzhaigou #27

Sunflower fields face the sunrise in Buonconvento, Tuscany, Italy. The sunflower is also the national flower of Ukraine. The country is covered in fields of sunflowers due to the importation of the flower seeds from North America in the 1700s. Likewise, Ukraine is also the world’s largest producer and exporter of sunflower seeds and sunflower oil. 

In a more symbolic sense, the flower represents warmth, strength, happiness, and hope. 

“Ukraine’s refugees need our help. The world can do more,” read the headlines in Sunday’s New York Times editorial section. “ The mass flight of refugees from Ukraine has created a nu-manitarian crisis that dwarfs anything Europe has seen since World War I. More than four million people have poured into neighboring countries, and as long as Russia's savage war continues, millions more will flee. Already, the flow of refugees from Ukraine is far greater than the number from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq who fled to Europe in 2015. But the scale of this crisis is staggering, and it is still in its early stages.”

Sunflowers of Buonconvento

Sunflowers in column formations in Buonconvento. Tuscany, Italy.

Sunflowers from Tuscany #5/5

Wulingyuan (武陵源) National Park, Hunan, China: this UNESCO World Heritage Site is noted for more than 3,000 pine-clad sandstone pinnacles and pillars, many over 200 meters (660 ft) in height. The otherworldly cliffs of Wulingyuan were the real-world inspiration for the floating Hallelujah Mountains of Pandora in James Cameron's blockbuster film, “Avatar.” 

When shrouded in mist, the pillars are transformed into the image of a classical Chinese landscape painting. But catching that moment is not an easy shot. It requires long waits for the pouring rain that causes super moist air to create a dense fog and then for a topographically uncharacteristic wind to also part the clouds, revealing this quintessential landscape. 

I photographed these mountains six times in four different seasons and only saw the fog twice and just for a fleeting moment. On my last try in 2019, I stayed with a family at the top of the mountains for a week, waiting for that singular moment as I scoped the park’s best vantage points. On the second day, I awoke to thick fog. It was so dense, I even had difficultly in the early morning light finding the location I had preselected.  When the rain started, I had a feeling my patience would finally be rewarded with the weather we were after.  As the winds picked up, the clouds parted for all too brief a moment lasting no more than minutes. I love how the fog both hides and reveals these massive sandstone pillars, showing off their soft mysterious beauty. Without the fog, in my opinion, there is no picture. 

--Metadata--
Exposure: 1/320 sec at f/4.0
ISO: 100
Focal length: 44mm
Lens: FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS
Camera Model: Sony A7RM3

Mountains in the Mist

Shuzheng lakes. Photo ID #0965 

 Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟) is best known for its dozens of blue and turquoise-colored lakes. A national park, it is one of China’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

 I first visited the park in 2007, shooting during four different seasons for the National Geographic story, Mystic Waters: Jiuzhaigou. Subsequently, and luckily, I made an additional four trips before the site suffered heavy damage in a magnitude 7 earthquake in 2017. Friends tell me several of the waterfalls were destroyed and some of the lakes and ponds were drained. Closed for repairs, it was reopened to the public on a limited basis just last year. Only a small number of tourists -- 2000, down from the 20,000 who visited before the quake -- are allowed in per day. My body of work on Jiuzhaigou represents the largest collection of photographs by a single photographer outside of China.

Seasons of Jiuzhaigou #1

Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟 / Jiuzhaigou) is quite simply the most photogenic spot in China. It is also the most popular and best managed forest reserve in China. The country's most popular national park is famous for its otherworldly beauty, with waterfalls and iridescent lakes that shimmer against a backdrop of deciduous forests and snow-capped mountains. According to legend, in an ancient love story a Tibetan god gave a mirror polished by clouds and wind to a goddess, who dropped it. Shards scattered, forming Jiuzhaigou's 118 lakes. Glacier fed crystal clear, emerald waters cascade down in a series of lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and rivulets punctuated by waterfalls.  A UNESCO World Heritage, the United Nations called it “the most biologically diverse temperate zone in the world.”  Discovered by loggers in the 1960s, this enchanted place is known to few foreigners. 90% of the park's visitors are locals.

Collection by 40 year National Geographic's Mike Yamashita 

www.michaelyamashita.com

The Four Seasons of Jiuzhaigou

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Sunflowers from Tuscany #3/5

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