Cameron Peagler (Yamaguchi) interviewed by Sierra Block Gorman (Gunma) Sierra: So—Cameron Peagler: who is he? Cameron: Who am I? I dunno. Former registered nurse, wannabe olympic fencer, photographer, you name it. I’ve done a lot of stuff. I’m just a kid from Ohio, trying to do a little bit of good in the world. Sierra: How long have you lived in Japan? Cameron: About four years at this point. Sierra: So, you’re simultaneously doing your art and your activism work and JET? Cameron: Yeah, and I’m also very active in my local community as well, with my photography. One of my first photography projects was highlighting small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic with the hopes of increasing their customers. ‘Cause you know at the time, a lot of small business owners were losing their businesses. So, I went around and I took portraits of local Japanese business owners and I held a photo exhibition to showcase everyone. Sierra: That’s a very direct form of activism, especially in such a difficult time for everyone. Cameron: Yeah, I did that and then I was a grant recipient back when the pandemic was first introduced to Japan. With that money, we donated masks to all the schools and created educational materials. Like I said earlier, I just want to do some good in the world, you know what I mean? So even this event, with the admission fees and all that—all that stuff goes to the performing artists for donating their time today, so I won’t receive any of that.
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Sierra: So was photography something you studied more by yourself or in school? Cameron: So in high school I did a little bit, stopped it, but I always liked the idea of photography. It wasn’t until I moved to Japan and I really picked up a real camera and started shooting that my ability to take photos started to grow. And actually through this project, I was able to meet Matthew Jordan Smith, who’s a world-famous photographer, and I learned under him, as well as Carmen Cheung, who is a commercial photographer in Canada. Sierra: That must have been really exciting. Was it interesting, photographing another photographer? Cameron: Yeah. It was a little...I don’t want to say daunting, but I wanted to make sure I had my stuff in order because Matthew is a master photographer. He knows how to control every element of a photograph. Just like that—[Cameron snaps his fingers]—he knows what to do. It was a little daunting, but it was a unique collab and we ended up getting some good photos. Actually, with a tripod I took additional photos of him shooting me as well, to get the whole process. It was really cool. The photo that’s in the gallery now, I like it.