Starting My Photography Journey at 30

I imagine many of you can relate, but it was incredibly difficult to travel abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic, I hadn't traveled much overseas, but now I have a strong desire to visit many different countries. I had been working non-stop for a long time, and I realized I couldn't continue like that. From now on, I want to take some time off with a little more flexibility and visit various places to find balance. My next destination is New York, where a friend lives.

When I was 18, I moved from Okinawa to Tokyo and got a job. During my student days, I was in the marching band and spent all my time on club activities, and I essentially joined a social team after graduating. However, I didn't know what I truly wanted to do. On the other hand, I loved clothes. When I discovered 'Purple' magazine, I was shocked to see the cool, authorial photography of people like Mark Borthwick, Anders Edström, and Chikashi Suzuki, which was completely different from the fashion magazines I had been looking at.

That was the catalyst. I was given the opportunity to work at Poetry of Sex (a brand created by the late Shinji Chiba), which also had connections with Purple magazine. While I was experiencing truly stimulating days, I gradually started taking photos in my private life. After working there for four or five years, I thought, "I'm getting older now, I need to do something properly!" So, a bit late, at the age of 30, I changed jobs to a photography studio, and after working as an assistant, I went independent.

Capturing the Moment of Unwinding

I don't know if I'm succeeding, but I've always wanted to take photos that blend documentary and fashion. Even when photographing models, if I hold up the camera and say, "Okay, I'm going to shoot," the models will stiffen up. So, I try to capture moments right when they get into position, or after I say, "That's a wrap for today," when something has unwound. It's almost like candid shots (laughs). Outside of work, I love taking pictures of both people and landscapes, and again, it's close to candid photography. I want to capture moments when people aren't posing. For landscapes, for example, if I shoot through glass, the reflected light sparkles beautifully, and I feel like I'm always trying to incorporate something that makes it look different from the usual.

It's been about eight years since I chose photography as my profession, and recently, I've come to realize again how important it is to return to my origins. At work, I inevitably focus on "making sure it looks good, I absolutely have to capture this," and as an extension of that, I started taking "proper" photos in my everyday life. For example, I used to shoot in landscape orientation, but now I often find myself shooting in portrait orientation automatically... Now, I want to remember the feeling of shooting freely and enjoy photography again.