Winter Scenery and Old School Streets

There are places, in the city where I live, that clearly mark the passing of time. There's a kind of resistance to the advance of the new. Places that, unfortunately, are disappearing one by one.Others, instead, seem suspended, far from time. When you leave the grey expanse of the cities, the narrative shifts. In winter: snow-covered streets, rooftops steaming with warmth, mountains frozen as twilight begins. This coexistence has always fascinated me.

During our Japan Photography Workshop 2026, together with my friend and fellow photographer Lee Chapman, we’ll spend a few days exploring exactly that. Two seemingly distant worlds that in fact share the same rhythm: time. We’ll explore the Tokyo where Lee and I walk daily, and one of our favorite cities in Japan: Osaka, which has managed, more than Tokyo, to resist the push of redevelopment.

In the middle section of the trip, we’ll photograph the landscapes: the quiet mountains of the Hida region, the snow-covered villages of Gokayama, rooftops heavy with snow and morning steam rising from old wooden houses, all the way to the frozen coast in the north.

After the energy of Tokyo and before returning to the urban pace of Osaka, we’ll enter a moment where the rhythm slows and our view opens up.

It’s a part of Japan I know well, where I return often when I need to listen, observe, and rediscover a sense of calm.

The workshop will take place from February 15 to 22, 2026, and is limited to 8 participants.It’s open to anyone who sees photography as a way to explore.