Currently, I am leading my Essence of Autumn photography workshop.  This morning, we woke up well before sunrise in the blue hour at our exclusive highlands resort in Niigata.  We headed for the highlands of Minamiuonuma to photograph the sea of clouds, also known as the sea of fog, or in Japanese 雲海, ‘Unkai’.  Certain regions of Japan have unique geographic and weather conditions which allow the sea of clouds to form on and over land, giving the impression of Nirvana dreamscapes, the surrounding mountain peaks with ancient trees and some land masses appear to be levitating in heavenly clouds.  As I mentioned before, there are many places throughout Japan to view this natural phenomenon, known as the sea of clouds.  In ancient Japanese folklore, these regions were known as the valley of the dragons, and you can see in the image in this newsletter why it’s known as the valley of the dragons; it’s as if mystical creatures and dragons appear to be taking flight in the valley below.  After sunrise, and hundreds of amazing images, we headed to back to our lodgings for breakfast, freshened up, plus I hit the milky white hot springs before heading out for an entire day of autumn leaves photography.  WOW, what a great day of photography, and what a great and fun group of participants I’m leading this Essence of Autumn!