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noriko nakamuma | william ishiwata | alfie goodrich a japanorama production | japanorama.co.uk/stekki

no.4: june 2014, special edition < japan, fashion, photography, lifestyle, life

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素敵 すてき su-te-ki /ste ki/

adjective: beautiful, great, lovely, splendid, wonderful, nice

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index/ credits

credits EDITOR IN CHIEF, LAYOUT & DESIGN Alfie Goodrich.

SPECIAL THANKS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Hiromi, Joe, Ami and Charlie [for putting up with and supporting me throughout the years], Gianluca Carrero [for the initial magazine template design], Matthew Lamb [for that chat in tbe van, on the way back from Kinugawa]. produced by japanorama www.japanorama.co.uk/stekki

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WELCOME TO STEKKI

T

eaching is my hobby. OK, I still make money at it but it’s the pursuit within my life photographic that helps me relax, focus, grow and smile. I learn about myself and my photography through teaching others. Pushing other people out on the stage was something I did for the ten years I was a PR guy in the music business. It makes me feel good to be in the background, making stuff happen for someone else. The past eleven years since I started my own business have been more about learning to walk the tightrope of non-arrogant self-promotion. Teaching gives me a space to champion other people. It gives my life a good balance of ‘me’ and ‘them’. Working with William Ishiwata, whose work is the subject of this edition of the magazine, has been a fairly constant thing for

the past couple of years. A lot of our work together is about my trying to get William to step out of where he feels comfortable. These photos are a result of that, which William explains in his own text, inside. As for Noriko, our model, she was recommended by my good friend Shinyong. Neither William nor I had met Noriko before. It turned out that her shoot with us was her first modeling assignment. So she became my student for the day as well.... and both her and William deserve at least a B+ for their work.

Alfie Goodrich Photograph by Ben Torode

If you think I’m being mean by not giving them an ‘A’ for such nice work, that’s fine. ....teacher’s job isn’t to try and make everyone like him!”

Visit William’s website here: http://fotografixx.com Dress provided by PrixPrix, Tokyo http://www.prixprix.co.jp

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山の手 IN THE FOOTHILLS Some casual fashion in the backstreets of Ebisu....

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inside-track WILLIAM IWASHITA EXPLAINS THE WHAT, WHERE, WHY, WHEN & HOW OF THE SHOOT

What? Fashion shoot with a model. More of a fun shoot though. I think I heard once that fashion photography is the only way men can play “dress up”. I don’t have a daughter so I suppose fashion photography is my other option. The model was a referral and a very good one. Neither Alfie or I had met her before. I tend now not to care too much about the age etc of models, I actually think I would prefer to shoot more mature models who are more comfortable with themselves rather than the 20 somethings who are (in my experience) somewhat whiney. Why? I have been shooting “professionally” now for a little over 3 years. The quotes are there because for me technically a professional at anything derives their living income from that skill. I do still have a “day” job as well as having my own photography and printing company. I guess my point is that the more I am exposed to and the more I learn shows the gaps in my self study. Pretty much the largest gap I have in my skill set is presentation. Or more to the point monetisation. This is something that Alfie has been trying to bang into my head for a little over 2 years now. The other gap in my usually way of shooting is that I am a complete control freak and usually shoot in a completely controlled environment. Alfie’s point was to get me out and see the sun for once. Also I am in the middle of a complete bottom up overhaul of my branding, websites etc. So I needed something new to show my new direction with my work in general. Where? Ebisu. I had enough points to stay at the Westin Ebisu for free this time. Also I knew a couple of locations that I wanted to try. Usually I travel around Tokyo by taxi, after having worked in Minato-ku for 5 years I like to see more of the city rather than travel by subway. How? For this shoot, it was very much assembled in a short time. Kind of more of that test I think from Alfie. I was not to control too many of the elements of the shoot. I think if he had his way we would have gone to a totally different area. Given time constraints Ebisu was settled on. I rented a couple of dresses not knowing if either would suit the model (I trusted the source of the referral) I met Alfie at about 8am, walked around the smaller streets within about 20 minutes of the station area. Not something I generally do outside of stations I had used a lot in the past. iPhone photos of potential locations. This took about an hour. The model arrived at 9:45, did a bit of explaining about the overall ideas.

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Simple backgrounds, fleeting moments. Don’t delete anything whilst you are on location. Sometimes the ‘missfires’ [our taxi] are the shots that can help a layout breathe....

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Continued from page8. I had the model sign my model release and other bits of admin. Looked at the dresses and decided to go with the white one. Developed a bit of a story about the model going to a party, so that would explain a two slightly different looks. We left the hotel around 10:30 walked down to our first potential site, the light had shifted so we proceeded to the next site which had actually 4 different “backdrops” to shoot within one city block. The nice thing about the small streets of Tokyo that way. The new and the older. The next set of shots was to do with the “party” look so the model did a little make up and styling in the courtyard then we shot around the “chateau” which gave a totally different feel and look to the series of images. We were finished by 1pm. The sun was extremely strong for the last set of shots. Gear was very simple; just my Nikon D800E with a Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 lens. Very light load. The fact that most of the “public” spaces in Tokyo are actually private or corporate property it seems that traveling light is the way to go. The layout was the key to the whole thing for me. Presenting my work in a way that people would want to buy it is something that is very key to future success. Since I shot the whole thing in mono (I tend to do that almost always now) seeing Alfie’s colour edits was really interesting.”

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From the grubby backstreets of Ebisu, to the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crown-jewel.....

joie de vivre Going to France for an hour, at Ebisu Garden Place. 16_stekki

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ATTENTION TO DETAILS I made William grab some shots of just the buildings. Including these provides context, breaks up the shots of the model and allows for some nice juxtaposition in the layout.

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VIEWPOINT IS EVERYTHING Looking through the ballustrade of the staircase gave us a lovely shot for the cover, something a little more abstract than the rest.

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Fashion and accessories for sale and for hire www.prixprix.co.jp letters@prixprix.co.jp

stekki is a japanorama production | japanorama.co.uk/stekki 24_stekki