Seek out the scenery of foggy ice

January 2023

Photographer / Noriko Kita

I have been to the Utsukushigahara Plateau in Nagano Prefecture twice this year for reporting. During this time, the forest roads are closed for the winter, so I stay at Ogato Hotel.

Although I predicted that there would be some frost due to the fog from the night before, I was nervous until I woke up in the morning and saw it with my own eyes. It was still dark, but I was thrilled when I was able to see the frost with my flashlight! I took all necessary precautions against the cold, put on snowshoes over my winter boots, and headed to the shooting point with my backpack, Markins ball head Q10i-RD, and tripod.

It's been two years since I started using Markins' Q10i-RD.
I really like its simple design and ease of use, and especially in winter, I can move the knob smoothly and stop it even through thick gloves, so I can concentrate on shooting without any stress.

When shooting in the morning or evening, the light changes rapidly and speed is required, but the camera is a reliable partner that allows me to frame one shot after another in an instant.

When it was still dark, the city lights and the Northern Alps were clearly visible, so I took a photo with the frost in it. The frost in the foreground is still dark and not very visible to the naked eye, so I used a tripod to carefully frame the shot. Because of the wind, the trees were difficult to stop, so I increased the ISO sensitivity and prioritized the shutter speed, taking the shot multiple times.

As dawn gradually began to break, I took a photo of the frost and the burnt sky. If I adjusted the exposure to the frost, the burnt sky would be washed out, so I used a half ND filter to adjust the exposure. Markins heads and tripods are indispensable for this type of filter work. As you can see in the photo, I used a Markins L-plate PLV-80170 with my camera (OM SYSTEM OM-1), which fits the camera very smartly, and it's also convenient that after framing horizontally, I can instantly frame vertically without changing the optical axis.

By applying a half ND to the sky to match the exposure of the frost, I was able to capture the sky dyed orange.

After enjoying the dramatic morning light, we went for a snowshoe walk along the plateau. It was about -10°C that day, but the trail signs were in the shape of shrimp tails, just like the picture above.

For most of the morning shoots I used a standard zoom lens, but from here on I changed lenses.
For the telephoto lens I used a lens plate PL-55 on the tripod mount. There was no wobble and I didn't have to worry about blurring.

The frost shining in the backlight was very beautiful, and I captured it with a telephoto zoom lens.

That morning, the sky was clear and blue, and it was beautiful, so I pointed the camera upwards and took a photo of the larch trees shining in the backlight, with the sun's rays shining against the blue sky.

On the second day, although there was a thick layer of frost, the whole area was covered in white fog from early in the morning...
It was -13℃, the coldest temperature in a while, and diamond dust was fluttering in the air. If only the fog would clear, the area would sparkle! I waited impatiently.

The sun had risen quite high in the sky, but the fog finally thinned and the light began to shine through, sparkling.

The wind was strong and the dust was blowing around, making it quite difficult, but I managed to capture the sparkle by opening the aperture on my telephoto lens.

Finally, I made a short video of this interview, so please take a look. The diamond dust looks more realistic in the video.

*If the video does not play, please watch it here.

I think there are still opportunities this season, so I'd like to give it another go with my partner Markins.

Noriko Kita

Graduated from Toyo Eiwa University. Studied under photographer Shoichi Maekawa. Focuses on light, color, and form with the theme of natural scenery in Japan. During amateur days, won the grand prize and annual awards in monthly contests held by various camera magazines and began working as a freelancer.
In 2019, held the solo exhibition "MOMENT" (Fujifilm Photo Salon Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo).
In 2020, held "Shiori -four seasons-" (formerly Olympus Plaza Tokyo and Osaka).
In 2022, held "FORME" (OM SYSTEM GALLERY).
Photo books include "MOMENT" (Bunichi Sogo Shuppan) and "FORME" (Fukei Shashin Shuppan), with co-authored works such as "My Rules for Beautiful Landscape Photography" (Impress) and "The Ultimate Landscape Photography Filter Book" (Nihon Shashin Kikaku).
Runs the "Kita Noriko Photo School".

Member of the Japan Professional Photographers Society (JPS)
Member of the Photographic Society of Japan (PSJ)

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