Currently, I am leading my annual winter wonderland Hokkaido Wildlife Birding Adventure which includes photographing Japan’s infamous snow monkeys (Macaca fuscata) at the Snow Monkey Park (Jigokudani Yaen Koen) in Nagano.   Participants and I are quickly filling up memory cards, and I am always pleased to introduce international photographers to a must visit location in Japan.  Having spent more than two decades photographing in this location, I spent part of the morning waiting on my favorite rock.  From that location, the baby snow monkeys never fail to stop by and say ‘hello’.  Other photographers who were standing next to the rock where I usually sit, lacked the experience and insight to know that the monkeys will not get as close to people who are standing and miss out on an opportunity for an up close and personal encounter where you could take a portrait photo with a 50mm lens.  Once those people moved, I assumed my customary position, and the people who already left returned wondering what spell I had cast over the monkeys to get them so close to where I was.   I always have to push back 4 - 5 people to maintain the sanctity of my Snow monkey meditation stone, a power spot all on its own.  A sitting person is not perceived as a threat, so out of curiosity, the monkeys will approach and greet me, sometimes even slowly brushing past me and occasionally pausing as if to rest on my leg as they travel the perimeter of the hot springs.  This is only one of the countless advantages my participants have access to with me leading them.  Run of the mill Japan photo workshop agencies provide no guidance for their clients, only a crowded tour bus and a timetable for precisely how much time they are allowed to spend at any one location.  As a professional photographer, I know that chasing the light doesn’t necessarily follow a particular schedule, so if my participants and I spend an entire day at one location, then that’s just what we’ll do.  I also know the best locations to sit and wait for the perfect photo opportunity.  After 15 - 20 minutes at Jigokudani Yaen Koen, I had already taken my unforgettable photos, and I only give my participants the advice to share my location if they are so inclined to take their once in a lifetime photos using my tricks of the trade while some visiting photographers lug long, heavy tele-photo lenses and tripods to the hot springs spending hours to capture decent photos.  Photographers traveling with me know they will not need to carry long, heavy tele-photo lenses as I let them know ahead of time, 100-400mm lenses will suffice.  Let’s not forget, there are around 300 Japanese macaques in three different troops in the region of Jigokudani Yaen Koen, and all of these primates are used to people.  Across Japan there are over 150,000 wild snow monkeys, and only a few hundred of them are used to people, and when filming them in the back country, we, too, carry long, heavy tele-photo lenses as the monkeys are ultra shy and don’t want to get near humans.  While at Jigokudani Yaen Koen, the snow monkeys there are so accustomed to humans plus the park staff feeds them a variety of grains throughout the year.  These grains are like candy to them, but not enough to sustain their diet.  The snow monkeys at the park still only equates to 0.2% of Japanese Macaques, yet 99% of the tourists visit this location exclusively for snow monkey photography!  A little out of proportion if you ask me, but if you are a weekend photographer or on a tight schedule, I suggest Nagano snow monkey park, which I use for my annual Hokkaido Photo Tour, my Essence of Autumn Photo Tour, and my annual Cherry Blossom Photo Tour.  My Z7 Mark II camera settings were 1/1000, f/8, ISO640.  I used a higher ISO so I could hand hold and have an aperture of f8 I could have went to f11 but I am happy with the depth of field and results at f8.