List of winners of the 2018 Club Tourism Calendar Photo Contest

We are looking for photos of "travel memories" taken during your travels. The winners of the photo contest will receive local specialties from all over Japan.
In addition, the photographs submitted will be published in brochures and on our website, so please apply.
Please download and use the latest Club Tourism calendar.

2018 Club Tourism Calendar Contest
Announcement of the winners

Thank you to everyone who applied to the 2018 Club Tourism Calendar Photo Contest. After rigorous judging from 7,323 entries, eight works in total were awarded prizes: one Grand Prize, two Excellence Prizes, and five Honorable Mentions. Congratulations! There were many excellent works that unfortunately did not win, making the judging extremely difficult. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who applied.
*"PN" on this page stands for pen name.

Professor Hiroshi Itami
As a photo editor, he has been a judge for many photo awards and contests. He is the representative director of the Japan Photo Contest Association, an advisor to the Japan Photographic Society, and a director of the NPO Photo Culture Club.

Professor Akihiko Hirashima
Photographer and editor. Former head of the Mainichi Newspaper Publishing Photography Department and Visual Editorial Department. Co-author of "Showa 20 Tokyo Map" (Chikuma Shobo), edited "Miyamoto Tsuneichi Photo and Diary Collection" etc.

Club Tourism Calendar 2018

Of the submitted works, eight winning works have been selected to be featured in the 2018 Club Tourism Calendar.
Please feel free to use it.

Download (PDF) here

Grand Prize
Excellence Award
Honorable Mention

Grand Prize

First Tadami River Bridge in autumn

Shigeru Iwama (resident of Chiba Prefecture)

This photo was taken during a two-day, one-night tour last fall. I was lucky enough to catch the exact moment when a train passed over the bridge. The clouds and the scenery after the rain are beautiful, and I took this photo with an emphasis on depth to convey the overall atmosphere.

Comment

By skillfully utilizing the high contrast and high saturation that are unique to digital photography, the autumn scenery of the Tadami River is recreated in three dimensions. By not limiting the image to the iron bridge and train, but depicting the scenery from the foreground to the background in deep focus, a wonderful sense of scale is created. It is a magnificent work that fully depicts the beauty of Japan's mountains and rivers. (Professor Itami)

This autumn scene of the JR Tadami Line is captured on a grand scale reminiscent of "Night on the Galactic Railroad." What is wonderful about this work is the bold composition, which devotes a large amount of space to the autumn-hued valley and mountains, while the main focus is the arch bridge and the train crossing it, which are placed more subtly. This is not only an outstanding railway photograph, but also a landscape photograph that poetically expresses the harmony between nature and man-made, making it a worthy winner of the grand prize. (Professor Hirashima)

Excellence Award

Snow Field at Dawn

Yoshio Akashi (resident of Mie Prefecture)

This is a shot from Club Tourism 's "Photography Tour." Although I didn't encounter the sun pillars or diamond dust I was hoping for, the morning sun shining on the snowy fields sparkling with frost in the freezing cold of minus 20 degrees Celsius created a dreamlike world.

Comment

A single tree stands tall in a snowy field in winter. Looking closely, we can see that the trunks of the tree are bent, but the tops are trying to reach straight up into the sky. One cannot help but be amazed at the tenacity of life that can survive in such a harsh natural environment. In addition to the precise composition with the top, bottom, left and right distribution, the creative ability to capture the time just before sunrise is probably the biggest factor in the success of this work. (Professor Hirashima)

Alpine Village

Akira Asano (resident of Ibaraki Prefecture)

I used to be a mountain climber, so I've taken pictures of mountains all over the country, but the mountains of Switzerland felt special to me. The scenery of the idyllic village of Grindelwald and the snow and rocks remaining on the mountains left an indescribable impression on me, and I was moved to take this photo.

Comment

The appeal of this work is that it clearly depicts life in a Swiss mountain village surrounded by large mountains, as if it were a picture book, with detailed descriptions. The framing, which incorporates many mountains and clouds, is also precise, and effectively emphasizes the grandeur of the authentic Alps. There is something new to discover every time you look at the vast screen, so you never tire of looking at it. (Professor Itami)

*In no particular order

Honorable Mention

First wind of spring

PN: Azumino-san (living in Ibaraki Prefecture)

During cherry blossom season, it's usually hard to decide which cherry blossoms to see, but Minami's cherry blossoms bloom early, so I was able to take my time taking photos. I was blessed with good weather and was able to encounter the cherry blossoms in full bloom at the right time, which made for a pleasant start to the photography season.

Comment

A spring scene that makes any Japanese person's heart happy. The Kawazu cherry blossoms and rape blossoms must have been planted by the people who live there. Nature becomes more beautiful when humans touch it. The cherry blossoms and rape blossoms, which stand out against the blue sky, and the river and mountains in the background are perfectly captured in this work. (Professor Hirashima)

Mirror Pond

Emiko Horie (resident of Chiba Prefecture)

I was able to go to Oshaka Pond, which I had always wanted to see, on a Club Tourism day trip bus tour. The pond, surrounded by deep greenery, looked like a mirror, and I was so impressed that I took many photos. It was cloudy with occasional rain, but I think that worked to my advantage.

Comment

In a composition that is almost symmetrical, only the lower half of the water surface is swaying slightly in the breeze, creating a subtle movement in the silence. The green color is also restrained and elegantly reproduced, and you can feel the artist's delicate awareness of his work. (Mr. Itami)

flying

Masami Takahashi (resident of Chiba Prefecture)

I shot on a hilltop with a 360° view. I've shot the aurora many times before, but this time I encountered a particularly large aurora explosion. The aurora overhead looked like a bird flying in the sky, so I titled it "Flight."

Comment

The aurora is expressed in a fantastical Image, as if a god or something had descended. The most difficult thing about photographing the aurora is the darkness. A slow shutter speed always results in subject blur, but this work has a brilliant way of turning that around. The still starry sky in the background is also effective. (Prof. Hirashima)

Valley of Miracles

Kinuko Sugimura (resident of Kanagawa Prefecture)

When I saw the Deadvlei (Dead Swamp), I was so moved that I couldn't help but take a breath, and I paid close attention to capturing the scenery exactly as I had Image it. I think I was able to capture the apricot color that is characteristic of the Namib Desert very well.

Comment

I respect the artist's sense in capturing this artwork with tight framing in the vast Namib Desert. The silhouette of the dead tree, which makes use of the unique color of the sand, seems to dance, allowing the imagination to run wild. (Prof. Itami)

The wind, the sky, the earth, the universe

Takeshi Watanabe (resident of Hyogo Prefecture)

Mar., we went on a tour to Lake Uyuni during the rainy season. The flat surface of the lake, with a thin layer of water, mirrored the sky. We were blessed with good weather and were able to experience a skyscape on a scale never seen before, including sunsets, sunrises and sunsets, and a sky full of stars. Someone suggested, "Let's take a photo with that sky as the background!" and everyone agreed.

Comment

The morning sun or the evening sun is reflected beautifully on the mirror-like surface of the water. There are 12 people standing there. Because they are silhouettes, we don't know their age, gender or country of origin. What is certain is that they are all holding hands. Perhaps this is a representation of the importance of coexistence. It is a wonderful Image. (Professor Hirashima)

You can see the submitted works here

List of winners of the 2018 Club Tourism Calendar Photo Contest