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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