snow smile
Posted by rocksea on 09 Dec 2009 | Category: japan, photography
You all liked the winter-snow photographs which I had posted in the previous article - but if they seem dull, grim and harsh, here are some to smile on!! From 2006 Winter.
Posts Tagged 'hokkaido'
winter at hokkaido
Posted by rocksea on 07 Dec 2009 | Category: japan, photography
There was a time when I used to walk these snow laden roads every day, for more than 3 years. Now when I come to think of it, or see these photographs, I shudder, and wonder how I survived those days 
These photographs are from the small street just out of the apartment where I lived during my PhD days at Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan.
These selected photographs are simple, but I feel there is something strong about it. The elements in it, a man, a dog, and a crow says so.
cemeteries from around the world
Posted by rocksea and sarah on 02 Nov 2009 | Category: life, photography
Cemeteries – they remind us of our forgotten past, and hint us on our imminent future.
Wherever we go, if time and distance permits, we try to make a visit to the local cemeteries. Cemeteries around the world have distinct styles, and talks a lot about the people of that region. They have a lot in common too…
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time for festivals. yosakoi soran
Posted by rocksea on 07 Apr 2006 | Category: japan, photography
Winter is saying adieu and am impatiently waiting for the spring to arrive at Hokkaido. Spring is already in Honshu, main island of Japan where Tokyo, Osaka and other cities are, and they are already having cherry blossoms! Hokkaido is the northern most island, and we have spring, cherry blossoms, everything late 
On top of everything, we have winter early!!!! sho!
Spring and we awake full of life and dandelions to a lot of festivals and parties. Let me get into the mood by browsing and bringing back some of the photos of the yesteryear.
Herez a set of photos from one of the greatest dance festival, the Yosakoi Soran. Yosakoi Soran was started just 12 years before, by a university student like me. It gained popularity so fast that it is one of the most vibrant festivals of Sapporo. Yosakoi Soran Festival combines Yosakoi-Festival in Kochi prefecture of Shikoku and Soran folk music of Hokkaido. 45,000 participants and 1.5 million audience, as reported over the internet.
Pretty japanese school gals huh? Their uniforms are popular that even after graduating they like to wear it around 
Now you know why am waiting for winter to get over 
Now you know why am waiting for winter to get over Those are from Yosakoi Soran 2005. Some old shots from Yosakoi Soran 2004 are here:
mating
Posted by rocksea on 20 Jan 2006 | Category: photography, prakriti
hmm..uhhh..ohh?? this guy seems to be interesting. but simi 1, look, look at those photos, those poems.. all circumnavigate around one central theme, mating! seems hez not researching in oceanography. he must be researching in mating!! This was what simi’s friend told her when she showed this website to him.
So is it? I think so.
Is there any better theme to talk about? The very existence of life thrives on mating. Though human beings assign a lot of terms like love, passion, blah blah (me don’t mean itz all blah blah, me mean etc etc, ok?) to sex we can’t deny the role of hormones, those animal part in us which determines (though not solely 2) this love and passion to a great extent. Ok, letz not stray away. Just thought of sharing some warm pixels emphasizing the theme, mating and here we go:
Bugmates. My aunty asked me “eda, athu thala-kuthane aano?!!” (have you put it upside-down?). Nah, itz as you see it.. defying gravity. This was taken from the Hokkaido University Botanical Gardens, while the sun was shining at Sapporo. Yet to identify these bugs.
Dragonflies mating. These are male (red) and female (orange) from the same species Orthetrum chrysis (Family: Libellulidae). So what are these guys doing? The acrobatic mating formation 3, sometimes assumed in mid-flight, is commonly known as the wheel formation. The position of the male’s rear end is how the male caught the female at the tandem position. Then the female arches her abdomen around to transfer the sperm in a pouch in the male’s 2nd abdominal segment into a special pouch of her own, completing the wheel formation. By the pond at my home in Kerala.
Houseflies mating! Though this one isn’t as colorful as those above, I feel an affinity towards it as may be because it was one of my first shots on mating or may be because it is just small and simple. Foothills of Usu mountains, 4-5 kms drive from Sapporo.
Damselflies mating at a pond at Noboribetsu, on the way to Usu.
1 names and other details provided in this website are not fictitious and they can be traced back to living characters.
2 social/political/cultural influences apply (see how neutral i can be!!)
3 the author, in no ways will be responsible for any casualties resulting from taking these posts into practice. the characters performing in these photographs are specially trained
