The Black and White Series

The following are a few photos from my Black and White photo series.

The following photo was shot in Ikebukuro and these two caught my attention that I had to take their photos! One of my popular photos from the series.

This photo is of model/singer AKIRA which I took in San Francisco, California.

AKIRA is known for her gothic boyish style and she sung the theme song “Aoki Tsuki Michite” for the Japanese animated TV series “Kuro Shitsuji Book of Circus”.

My time with her was short (as most of my time is interviewing entertainers and doing a photoshoot), as she had to prepare to perform on stage and my schedule of interviews booked, I was grateful she gave me time to do a quick photoshoot.

I shot this photo during a day I was doing street fashion shots from Shibuya, Japan.

Sometimes it’s not just the person that I want to shoot, it’s the person and the environment.

Why I enjoy this photo is because unlike other countries of street fashion where they look at the camera, in Japan, many of them don’t unless you approach them to take a photo.

This was pure street photo shots that I was taking for a publication that I wanted to showcase what people were wearing in Shibuya at the time and while this woman was walking with her friend, she reacted with a smile while looking towards the camera.

Also, it captures the busy Udagawacho, Shibuya location. A location that if you visit one year, it will be different the next. For example, the Sunkus building that I shot there is now gone and became a Sketchers building. Right across the street is the Berksha building which was white and fluorescent green and is now white and dark red.

That’s what I love about Google Maps that it captures the look of the city each year, in fact, it’s one places in Japan that Google has to keep taking photos of because it changes so much. And post-pandemic, with many shops closing, it becomes more evident.

The following photo was taken in San Francisco, right after my interview with KOM_I, who was at the time, the lead singer of the group, Wednesday Campanella.

KOM_I is one of the most vibrant performers from Japan that I have interviewed and grateful that she was able to take the time in partake in a photo session.

It was a little windy that day, but she didn’t mind and I didn’t mind and the photo series with her came out very well! In fact, Kendall Jenner even gave me a a like on Twitter for the photo when I first posted it.

For the fourth photo in the Black/White Series featured, the photo is of Japanese music artist, May’n.

The photo was shot at on location in San Francisco, right before her performance at Union Square and right after I was able to interview her.

What was interesting is that this was the second time we featured her, but this is my first time doing a photo shoot with her. I only had so much time as they needed to get to another interview right after (we were given the longest time allotment, so we were grateful for that) but because I had a good number of questions, I knew right then and there that I had only so much time for a photo shoot as the interview/article was the priority.

Also, to give us enough time to get from this location and take a bus to Union Square to get a front seat for the concert. As I tend to want to be right there and front while taking photos for a concert.

Everything worked out, while lighting was not ideal and I tend to not like shadowing. But it captures the beauty of May’n.

I shot this photo from the Osanbashi in Yokohama (Kanagawa, Japan).

With Minato Mirai 21 in the background, especially the Yokohama Landmark Tower, I watched as this young couple sat next to each other. The young woman watching ahead, while the young man contemplated holding her hand, but wasn’t sure of he should make the move.

It was a scene of innocence and many of us have felt that way, the thought of getting the first kiss, the first hug, the first sign of holding the hands of one you love.

I decided that I wanted to get the red brick warehouse and the Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel in there as well, so I had to get this shot showing more of the Minato Mirai 21 background.

I was in San Francisco and finished interview and photo shoot with a Japanese music group. While walking out, I saw a guy taking photos of his female friend with his smartphone.

One thing I like about street fashion photography is the element of meeting someone, asking if you can take their photo and see what kind of photos you can get with the short amount of time, with the scenery that is just right there and make it work.

So, I asked if I can take a photo of her and she and her photographer said yes.

For me, I love the thrill of  barely enough time and see what type of photos you can come up with.  Because there are times when I need to interview someone and management tells you, you only have this time allotted.   So, if you have 15-30 minutes, you’re going to have to make that time count.  I’ve been doing this long enough to have longer times allotted for me compared to other media, so I’ve been very fortunate.  But sometimes you just have to be ready, because you might not have much time at all or the conditions are just not that good (ie. noisy area, bad lighting, etc.).

That gives you so much time for an interview and knowing which questions to ask and knowing your own skill and what you can accomplish.  This led me to take on the challenge in Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan of taking portraits of 25 women in a half hour span.

The following photo was shot a few days before Halloween in Ikebukuro, Japan.

Saw these two young women together and everything was festive that day and being one of the few photographers outside of Japan covering the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival at the time, but there was such a good vibe that many wanted to play to the camera with a vampire Halloween style of poses.

With AnimeJapan happening this weekend in Tokyo, this week’s black and white photo series was taken at Anime Japan.

Photo of these two beautiful cosplayers with their school girl outfit and leopard gloves/tail for promotional of an anime series titled “Killing Bites”.

This photo was taken 2.5 years after “Robot Restaurant” opened in Shinjuku’s Kabukicho area.  2015 to be exact.

That January, the restaurant went up to over 150 seats (considering in 2012, they had only 40) and that very year, would be the first time the restaurant would surpass 100,000 visitors (and that’s with the price increase to Y7,000).

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the once very popular Robot Restaurant appears to be closed. The sign on top of the building is now gone but in October 2021, the company posted a message “We are not dead yet”.  Let’s hope this entertainment company returns when things somewhat return to normal.