Two boats and a few groups of crazy kids on the beach.
What more needs to be said?
Sapporo Snow Festival
Every year the city of Sapporo in Japan hosts one of the country’s largest winter events, the Sapporo Snow Festival. This attracts visitors from around the world to check out the many snow and ice sculptures. The best view of the event is from what is simply called the TV Tower. Personally I think it looks like a mini Eiffel Tower. I’ll admit that Mini Eiffel Tower would be an even worse name than TV Tower, so I’ll stick with the official name. This was also my first time travelling with an SLR! Even as I was learning the ropes I was excited to have the city and mountains as a backdrop to the display of snow and lights!
Red Wall
I was certainly a tourist in this place, but I’m not sure that this particular travel agency was open.
Sunset Clouds
As the sun went down the layers in these clouds kept changing from white to orange to dark blue as they went completely into the shadow. I think I hit the shutter at the exact right moment to capture all of the shades!
Snow and Lighthouse
I’ve been having a little bit of split personality between summer and winter posts recently, but such is my life. I’ve learned to live with it and I hope you can too! I’ve also shown this lighthouse before, but I like this particular angle too. It was a calm cool morning and the lake was very still. It almost made me forget that my fingers were freezing as I took this!
Determined Tree
This small tree was trying to grow out of a huge piece of granite. It looks like it will have a pretty hard life ahead of it. The sky was overcast and snowy, allowing me to shoot straight into the sun and still capture the scene.
Turtle Turtle Turtle!!!
The sea turtle is a very majestic creature. It can also be quite intimidating when you see one close up, and watch it use its powerful jaws to chew a huge clump of grass right in front of you. This was taken in Akumal in Mexico in a spot where people came to snorkel just to see the turtles. They were everywhere. The younger ones were a little skittish when you got close, but the older ones could really care less if you were nearby or not. This particular one let me dive down and hang out with him long enough to get plenty of good photos.
Wall of Skulls
If a wall with many skulls carved in it doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will. Perhaps the Mayans that built this wall were trying to warn others of their affinity for sacrifice. I think I was pretty safe when I took this photo, but many years ago that may have not been the case.
Going Home is Hard to Do
This was a familiar scene for me last week, and it was a hard one to leave. I love winters in California, they are mild in Sacramento with fantastic mountains and skiing nearby, but after a week on the beach in Mexico I’m having a hard time adjusting to my regularly scheduled life.
Under the Sundial
A view from under the Sundail Bridge. This overcast day made for some great shots of the bridge with the sky in the background. The soft light made the green colored floor of the bridge light up when looking at it from underneath!
