so today is my first proper day photographing the forest. i went there before with jade, but only for a couple of hours. and today i was there for 7-8 hours. exploring. the pillows in this hostel are really weird and hard to sleep on....
made me kinda sad to spend valentines day alone when i was with jade yesterday. :(
because it snowed so much last night, and it was -5 it was very beautiful this morning. all the electricity wires and trees had completely frozen and the icicles kept falling off and shatering on the ground. made a cool sound.
the bus i was on to the forest broke down. and after about half an hour of sitting there not knowing what the hell was going on as everyone around me spoke japanese to eachother. we got onto another bus that came to pick us up.
the forest is beautiful, but also really eirie. at first i didnt really feel it, i was following the path then, when i left the path and started going further into the actual forest it got pretty scary. the ground is so uneven, the volcanic rock juts out and theres loads of holes in the ground covered in snow and moss, making it really dificult to actualy get anywhere. and very easy to get disorientated and lost.
also not the ideal conditions for using a tripod...
so after walking away from the path for a while, a came across a tent, colapsed and covered in snow. i cleared some of the snow off and tried to see if i could get inside to see what was in there, i ended up having to cut a hole in the tent, i found a sleeping bag, a lamp and a rusted old aerosol can with no head. i couldnt propperly see what was inside because i could only cut small holes in it... the whole time im stopped taking photos or looking around im constantly looking over my sholder, theres noises from the wildlife and the icicles falling from the trees, means im constantly on edge, and the whole place has a really weird atmosphere...
this is the trail i was following, it is a line someone used for a suicide clearup, red bits of tape on trees leading a path, i didnt at this point know if it was leading me out or further into the forest, but either way it would help me from getting lost if i stuck to it.
i found this gun wedged inbetween two branches of a tree. it was a genuine gun and there were live bullets on the ground near it, but it had no magazine in. it had a lazer sight shoddily strapped to the bottom... i have no idea if this has anything to do with someones suicide.. but it was deffinatley wierd...
a noose, hung very precicely from a thick tree...... i spent a while hear because i had to load more film into my darkslides... a very weird atmosphere... no body, no sign of a body... but someone had taken alot of effort to put it up the tree and make sure it was secure enough.. perhaps because the suicide cleanup crew are all volenteers, they didnt bother taking the rope down, as it would have been alot of effort...
after finding all that, and photographing it, it was pretty late on, and i was starting to worry if i would get out of the forest in time for the last bus back to the station.... as i hadnt a fucking clue where i was... i followed the red trail for a while but then it died.. i started to worry.. i had been following it for a good hour or so, and it was starting to get dark... i couldnt follow it back in time to get out for the bus, so i had to find my own way out, and i was in the middle of nowhere... its hard to describe how hard this forest is to navigat or even walk in.. the pictures dont do it justice... anyway, in the end i decided to just head north, as this would get me out on the bus route even if it took me a while... after 15 minuites or so, luckily i found my way out. and into this park where everything was completely frozen...
this couple saw me looking at a map, and came over and asked me where i was going.. they didnt speak any english, and i dont speak any japanese... but i told them where i was going and showed them on the map, they said they would drive me... people here are so friendly.. i wish i could have spoken to them.. but the conversation section of my phrase book quickly ran dry.. and spent most of the drive in silence or trying to say things to eachother and failing.. they dropped me off at the station and we went our seperate ways... i like nice people...
mos burger is amazing. like... a japanese version of mcdonalds. so good tho.
i found this like.. hot spring bath thingy in my hostel... its amazing... atleast it was amazing when i was on my own, probably not so much when its full of old sweaty japanese men.
so today is my first proper day photographing the forest. i went there before with jade, but only for a couple of hours. and today i was there for 7-8 hours. exploring. the pillows in this hostel are really weird and hard to sleep on....
made me kinda sad to spend valentines day alone when i was with jade yesterday. :(
because it snowed so much last night, and it was -5 it was very beautiful this morning. all the electricity wires and trees had completely frozen and the icicles kept falling off and shatering on the ground. made a cool sound.
the bus i was on to the forest broke down. and after about half an hour of sitting there not knowing what the hell was going on as everyone around me spoke japanese to eachother. we got onto another bus that came to pick us up.
the forest is beautiful, but also really eirie. at first i didnt really feel it, i was following the path then, when i left the path and started going further into the actual forest it got pretty scary. the ground is so uneven, the volcanic rock juts out and theres loads of holes in the ground covered in snow and moss, making it really dificult to actualy get anywhere. and very easy to get disorientated and lost.
also not the ideal conditions for using a tripod...
so after walking away from the path for a while, a came across a tent, colapsed and covered in snow. i cleared some of the snow off and tried to see if i could get inside to see what was in there, i ended up having to cut a hole in the tent, i found a sleeping bag, a lamp and a rusted old aerosol can with no head. i couldnt propperly see what was inside because i could only cut small holes in it... the whole time im stopped taking photos or looking around im constantly looking over my sholder, theres noises from the wildlife and the icicles falling from the trees, means im constantly on edge, and the whole place has a really weird atmosphere...
this is the trail i was following, it is a line someone used for a suicide clearup, red bits of tape on trees leading a path, i didnt at this point know if it was leading me out or further into the forest, but either way it would help me from getting lost if i stuck to it.
i found this gun wedged inbetween two branches of a tree. it was a genuine gun and there were live bullets on the ground near it, but it had no magazine in. it had a lazer sight shoddily strapped to the bottom... i have no idea if this has anything to do with someones suicide.. but it was deffinatley wierd...
a noose, hung very precicely from a thick tree...... i spent a while hear because i had to load more film into my darkslides... a very weird atmosphere... no body, no sign of a body... but someone had taken alot of effort to put it up the tree and make sure it was secure enough.. perhaps because the suicide cleanup crew are all volenteers, they didnt bother taking the rope down, as it would have been alot of effort...
after finding all that, and photographing it, it was pretty late on, and i was starting to worry if i would get out of the forest in time for the last bus back to the station.... as i hadnt a fucking clue where i was... i followed the red trail for a while but then it died.. i started to worry.. i had been following it for a good hour or so, and it was starting to get dark... i couldnt follow it back in time to get out for the bus, so i had to find my own way out, and i was in the middle of nowhere... its hard to describe how hard this forest is to navigat or even walk in.. the pictures dont do it justice... anyway, in the end i decided to just head north, as this would get me out on the bus route even if it took me a while... after 15 minuites or so, luckily i found my way out. and into this park where everything was completely frozen...
this couple saw me looking at a map, and came over and asked me where i was going.. they didnt speak any english, and i dont speak any japanese... but i told them where i was going and showed them on the map, they said they would drive me... people here are so friendly.. i wish i could have spoken to them.. but the conversation section of my phrase book quickly ran dry.. and spent most of the drive in silence or trying to say things to eachother and failing.. they dropped me off at the station and we went our seperate ways... i like nice people...
mos burger is amazing. like... a japanese version of mcdonalds. so good tho.
i found this like.. hot spring bath thingy in my hostel... its amazing... atleast it was amazing when i was on my own, probably not so much when its full of old sweaty japanese men.
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