film cameras and me

I decided to use my film cameras for location scouting & random travel snaps. This really helps me to pay even more attention to the available light that I can use around the subject. 

I have a Mamiya 645 AFD and Pentax K1000 (this actually belongs to my husband). 

The Mamiya takes beautiful pictures (the first 7 images) specially the light is perfect, you can get unbelievable results. 

And the Pentax also does an amazing job. It's all manual and it gives you pure excitement of taking pictures.  

SF my love

I visited Northern California with my husband and my best friend Kim. 

Kim is a great food/lifestyle photographer based in London. 

(Click to read her blog)

I had my 35mm film camera and Kim had her Canon 5D (yes it's antique!) and we took pictures of everything.

San Francisco was beautiful. The vibe fit in us perfectly. 

Follow me!

Again, it's been months since I last updated this blog. 

My website got renewed (click!) and now you can see all the social icons.

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest!

Kitch Carnival

My latest editorial for Kismet Magazine just came out!

The stylist was Andru who probably has the prettiest & most sparkly eyes on earth. 

He also owns a fashion brand called Hause of PinkLemonaid and some of his pieces were shot in this editorial. 

Makeup was done by incredible Klexius Kolby (photographers, if you don't want to spend ANY time on Photoshop, book him),

and hair stylist was this talented & hot lady Cyndi Vellmure.

Last but not least our model was Britt from Bleu Model Management. 

Britt understood this fun/cute/sexy concept of the shoot in a sec, and started moving like Bambi! 

I used my Canon 5d Mark3 with a 28-70 f2.8L and one strobe light with a piece of tracing paper on and it was placed right next to myself. 

Camera setting was ISO400, 1/160s, F11. 

In post production, I tweaked contrast a little but left the images as organic as possible.

Great job, team! 

I love everything about this editorial :)

Inspiration is the hoover

Ok it's been way too long since I last updated my blog.

From now on I'll do my best to keep this blog going!

An amazing Australian portrait photographer Sue Bryce says, you can blog about something new, something old and something borrowed, then repeat. 

Today I'm writing about something old (again, yes).

I came across this old tearsheet from i-D magazine with my work on. 

I shot a lookbook for the London boutique Kokontozai back in 2006, and some of the photos got featured on the magazine.

The boutique was small but located in Soho and carried lots of cool pieces. It's owned by the designer Marjan Pejoski, who is obviously famous for the swan dress that Bjork wore. 

This was shot in the studio. 
I kind of miss some London studios that were notoriously cluttered, so I was always able to find something crazy to shoot a model with, such as a colorful Dyson hoover.

Most of the studios in Southern California are very tidy, organized, amazingly spacious and super pleasant to get locked in for 6hrs or so, but if you're a studio owner and looking to get more successful, why don't you start with buying a colorful vacuum cleaner..? J/k hehe! 

Hello 2013

Ok I may look like an old woman who's reminiscing the past lately, but I just found my work shot in London between 2004 - 2006 and wanted to share here.  

Since age of 18, I've moved quite a lot. I was born in a small city in west Japan, then Osaka → Cambridge → London → Tokyo → Southern California → Tokyo → So Cal again.

I find it fascinating wherever I go, my photography style generally stays the same, but obviously subjects(trends in models/clothes/location) always change depending on the city.

My dream as a photographer started out that I simply wanted to shoot beautiful images with beautiful people and clothes. I had no idea "trends" are the most important thing to make fashion images work but luckily I met so many great creatives, specially stylists, and they showed me the industry. 

Now I'm based in LA working with great stylists who know NY/Europe styles and love mixing with local designers pieces, and make it extremely unique.

For the LA creatives who adore NY or Paris but cannot afford moving there financially/emotionally/physically, just take a closer look at what you are surrounded by, then you'll get much more inspired. 

This year I'd love to move forward and have more fun with my favorite people and new ones that I haven't met yet. Hello 2013 here I come ;)

"Down on the street" for MODO magazine

This morning the editorial that I shot back in October came out on MODO magazine. 

 The stylist is my partner in crime Charity Baker, hair/makeup was done by amazing Alisha L Baijounas, the model was a cool & gorgeous kiddo Diana @Elite LA.

We shot in Downtown LA against colorful graffitis on the walls. It was HOT that day so 3 dehydrated ladies wandering around looking for interesting spots to shoot.
Here are some BTSs. 

  

I always love how they layout images on MODO webtorial.

Well done, girls!!