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Tuesday September 1 2015 19 ARTS CULTURE PHOTOGRAPHY 6.8103 in x 6.3125 in By CRAIG GILBERT How lucky landscape lovers are that Yuichi Takasaka kind of liked it and stayed when he ew to Canada from Tokyo as a 20-year- old in 1989. It was a good deal for the Northwest Terri- tories too as Takasaka spent the early part of his career playing architect to the indus- try that opened up Aurora Borealis tourism to Japanese tourists helping to attract tens of thousands of them in less than a decade. The in-demand astral photographer was in Fort Smith last weekend presenting and shooting at the seventh annual Dark Sky Fes- tival. Since he was there already NWT Tour- ism contracted him as a translator and guide for a Japanese television crew Thursday and to shoot some promotional photos during the rest of the week. TheJournalcaughtupwithhimatthePelican Rapids Inn where hes been tweeting pictures of giant steaks from the kitchen on equal bill- ing with his pictures of the Northern Lights. He wasnt taking photos of the sky or in- structing stargazers on how to take their own back when he married a Canadian girl - far from it - but it didnt take him long to go North. He was working in tourism in Vancou- ver in 1992 when he moved up to Yellowknife. He was hired by a mom-and-pop outtting operation to give tours to Japanese visitors who had own 7283 km to see the Northern Lights. He also did all the marketing and sales in Japan and across Canada. Thats a lot of kilometres but there were a lot of people hungry for a rsthand look at the overhead exhibition. It was the rst aurora tours in Canada and it grew like crazy fast he said. By the time I left the company and went freelance in 1999 we had over 10000 guests a year from Japan from zero or a few hundred. Now hes sought after shooting in Nordic countries Iceland Scotland and even Tas- mania for some frames of the Aurora Aus- tralis. Hes travelled to Alaska and lived in Whitehorse for a while too all in pursuit of the aurora. He provides NASAs picture of the week on a fairly regular basis which is no wonder according to a NWT Tour- ism official who speaking on condition of anonymity said they contract Takasaka all the time. Hes such an acionado with the aurora photography that it gives us a marketing reach thats way beyond what we would be able to with a limited budget the ofcial said. He has an amazing reputation and the way things happened with him already in Fort Smith it really worked out. The photography that takes up so much of his time today check out blue-moon.ca came about like any invention it was borne of necessity by the tourism business. To see the product you need photos for the brochures but nobody was selling Northern LightsphotossoIhadtotakethemmyselfandI justbecameanexpert.Everybodyusedthemall over the world so Im sort of the Aurora Guy. He does dark sky photography all over Canada and the world including Ontario and Jasper National Park which became the worlds largest accessible dark sky preserve five years ago. He shot the of- ficial photos. At the end of September hes going to La Palma Spain to talk about dark skies and show off photos. He said there isnt really a best place to view the Northern Lights noting if youre below the oval it all pretty much looks the same. All things equal how- ever he did let slip that last Saturdays show at the festival in Wood Buffalo National Park was something special. I like the foreground too the night-scape I like something interesting to be in the fore- ground he said. Being a former Yellowknife resident visit- ing Fort Smith is like coming home. The people here are easygoing taking pictures is so easy he said smiling. Im very relaxed. Though hes based in a small village 25 km outside of Vernon B.C. he spends several weeks in the area every year. The rst time I saw Northern Lights was in Jasper when I was still guiding and I was like wow but there really its just a little green thing he said. When we moved to Yellowknife I didnt even know it was an au- rora hotspot because nobody knew about it back then. I thought Oh my God this is great. Then I started helping the business grow and it just became a part of me. I want to see them from all over the world so Im slowly going all over the place. Astral photographer keeps his eyes on the prize in the sky Photographer Yuichi Takasaka gives shooting tips at the recent Dark Sky Festival. PhotoDaliCarmichael