@yamashitaphoto

Water colors: Mogami River, Yamagata, Japan. 17th-century poet Matsuo Bashō composed several haiku regarding the river during his travels alongside it.

'Listen! a frog jumping into the stillness of an ancient pond!' The most famous Haiku poem by Matsuo Basho, Japan's most famous poet. I chose this moment capturing the frog just before take-off as the best way to photographically interpret this poem. The splash of a frog, a cricket chirping from beneath an empty samurai helmet, “the cool fragrance of snow”: Such closely observed moments in nature, often marrying unlikely elements, distinguish Basho’s poetry. Haiku (a three-line, 17-syllable verse) originated as the first stanza of longer poems. Using plain language in the service of spiritual insight, Basho raised the form to literature, each poem like a polished stone that, when dropped in water, creates an infinity of ripples. Akita, Japan. @natgeo @thephotosociety @natgeotravel

Sunrise breaks through the fog above the canopy in Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei Darussalam. Kept out of humanity’s reach for as long as they have existed, these lush green jungles make up more than 70% of the country and are some of the oldest on the planet. Through my work, I've been fortunate to see and record some of the world’s most pristine environments before man-made and natural conditions have altered the ecological balance. Today, I am honored to be selected as an ambassador of the prestigious global environmental initiative and award, the Earthshot Prize, spearheaded by Great Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Sir David Attenborough, broadcaster and natural historian. The prize, which will award £50 million over ten years to individuals and teams who devise solutions to bring about positive change for the environment, aims to emphasize humanity's powers of ingenuity and collective action. The Earthshot Prize is centered around five key goals for healing our planet's endangered environment by 2030: Protect and restore nature; Clean our air; Revive our oceans; Build a waste-free world and Fix our climate. Five winners will be announced each year for the next ten years, with the aim of celebrating and supporting at least 50 remedies for the planet's most pressing environmental problems. I am proud to support the The Earthshot Prize, the most prestigious global environmental prize in history, designed to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next 10 years, while turning the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism and hope for the future. To learn more, follow @EarthshotPrize @kensingtonroyal @davidattenborough

End of fall flooding? Fall marks the beginning of the Acqua Alta, or High Water, season in Venice, Italy. it’s the period when high tides flood the city’s canals and piazzas and tourists scurry to find knee-high boots. The phenomenon has occurred for centuries, but a rise in sea level and a drop in land level – due to natural and man-made problems including climate change and industrialization – have produced dramatic increases in the amount and frequency of flooding. In November 2019, the city was inundated with the highest water levels in 50 years that left ground floors of many buildings uninhabitable. The floods have driven many of the only 50,000 residents away from the city, surrendering it to the annual (pre-Covid) influx of over 30 million tourists. A search for a solution to keep Venice above water has been on for decades, but finally, an ambitious project begun in 2003 finally – after delays and cost overruns -- had its first successful test this month. The MOSE (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico) project, which consists of a series of 78 mobile gates, was activated and succeeded in blocking high tides of over four feet from entering the Venetian lagoon. The entire endeavor is not expected to be fully completed until 2021, but officials and residents of the city are hopeful that it will be enough to keep Venice a vital city, and not merely a water-logged museum.

Nikko National Park, Tochigi, Japan: in autumn, Nikko's mountainous landscape transforms into a painting of red and gold. The colors first arrive in the higher elevations around early October, descending into the valleys in mid/late October before reaching the town of Nikko in early November. As you work your way down from the top, color changes as do the species of trees showing off a kaleidoscope of colors. Autumn foliage (Koyo) viewing is a serous pastime much like cherry blossom viewing in the spring.

Taking it to the streets: fall is in the air and on the ground where the streets becomes the staging area for the corn harvest, a common scene on rural roads everywhere in China.

Today’s fall focus falls on Naruko Gorge, Miyagi Prefecture in the Tohoku region of Japan. Numerous hiking paths around Naruko will lead you through canyons and forests. The beauty of these trails helped inspire Japan’s most famous literary figure, the haiku poet Matsuo Basho who was struck by the scenery and mentioned it in his beloved masterpiece, Oku No Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North), a diary of his five month journey into the wilderness north and west of Edo (now old Tokyo) in 1689. And it was my good fortune to get the assignment for a story on Basho for National Geographic. My instructions were simple: follow his route and make poetic pictures. I was equally inspired.

It doesn’t get any better than this for viewing fall foliage: submerged in the warm waters of an outdoor onsen rotemburo.

Recognize these mountains? The Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in Gansu province, best known as the Rainbow Mountains were used as a backdrop in Disney’s new feature film, Mulan. These Technicolor peaks, often over photoshopped by over zealous color photographers, can actually be found along the real life Silk Road where most of the movie’s action is supposed to be taking place. Disney showcases some of the most photogenic landscapes in China but often without regard to historical or geographic accuracy. @thesilkroadjourney

Blowing in the wind.

Look familiar? If you’ve seen this year’s remake of Disney’s 1998 animated feature Mulan, you might recognize these Mingsha Shan sand dunes used as backdrops in the movie. Oddly enough most of the film was shot in New Zealand.

‪If in China, who needs to travel internationally during a pandemic when there is the‬ Window of the World theme park located in the city of Shenzhen. It has some 130 reproductions of the world’s most iconic tourist attractions squeezed into 48 hectares (118 acres). The 108 metre (354 ft) tall Eiffel Tower dominates the skyline and the sight of the Kremlin, the Pyramids, Venice San Marcos Square, the White House and the Vatican are all in close proximity.