Stekki 13: Gwenny and Aki in Yutenji

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素敵

aki-miso | 井上晶湖 | gwenny ruiz a japanorama production | japanorama.co.uk/stekki

no.13 september 2015 < 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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credits EDITOR IN CHIEF 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 the van, on the way back from Kinugawa]. produced by japanorama www.japanorama.co.uk/stekki

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WELCOME TO STEKKI

L

ocation fashion photography in Japan, especially in Tokyo, is one of my greatest joys. I treat wherever I live a little like the set of a movie: it’s my playground.

Gwenny Ruiz and I have known each other quite a while now. He’s been to workshops I’ve run, we’ve spent time out shooting together one-to-one. We’re mates now. Gwenny has a great sense of humour and he loves a good piece of cheese as much as I do.

On a recent visit to Japan, Gwenny got in touch and asked me to sort out a model for us to shoot with. I’d recently met and worked with Akiko Inoue a few times and thought she’d be

perfect. Aki is a great model and she’s always as bouncy and happy as a kid in a sweet-shop.

Yutenji was somewhere I had been a few times abut not been back to for a while and I knew Gweeny didn’t really know the area.

We had mixed weather but anyone who knows me will also know that a rainshower is just another excuse to play, so we used the rain well. Great day out, some great shots.

Alfie Goodrich, Editor in Chief Photo: Lisa Fujiwara www.paintwithstars.com

I’m really stoked that, one year one this visit of Gwenny’s, he has just become a fulltime resident of Tokyo.

Looking forward to many more adventures with you, sir.

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祐天寺 Out & about in Meguro-ku Photos: Gwenny Ruiz Model: Aki Inoue [井上晶湖]

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`m no stranger to Japan, nor am I a stranger to Alfie and his work. Whenever I’m headed on a trip to Tokyo I always start to reflect on my photography. In particular; what are the things I struggle with or can improve upon ?

I typically approach Alfie with the answer to this thought process in the hopes our agenda’s can sync together for a private lesson to help wrap my head around the subject in question. This time’s challenge to overcome ? Mixing flash with ambient daylight. A topic no doubt many other starting photographers like myself have struggled with.

We met up in Yutenji on a particularly overcast, but bright day. After introductions with the model Ali, we headed out to setup shop at the 1st location Alfie had in mind not far from the station.

The backdrop for the shoot would be a house with several very large stones and lanterns dotted around the area. The stones easily served as a method of posing the model either on or against ; and by shifting one’s position and perspective you could make the use out of the light falling through the trees in the background; making this a natural out-door studio; ideal for experimentation.

After some initial shots without flash, Alfie then started to slowly but surely introduce them into the equasion and providing scenario’s where they would be a benefit in outdoor photography. In both practical reasons, as well as stylistic reasons. The options seemed staggering. Aki seemed keen to help us experiment. The vibe was good, idea’s started to flow and eager shots were taken whilst adjusting the flash to suit our needs.

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Not even the rain that started to set in could slow us down.

After we’ve exhausted this location, Alfie took us on a walk through Yutenji, stopping down at several other locations and focusing on training my eye on finding interesting ways to blend positioning the model in a scene to improve the picture through proper composition, and then later combining that with some more on-hands usage of flash against a painted steel door.

Playfully we had the model interact with her background resulting in some cute impromptu shots.

The rain now really started to pour, which meant retreating to a dry place for a coffee and review of the shots taken together with the model; resulting in the images you see on these pages.

I can’t explain just how invaluable it is to be able to have the opportunity get lessons from a seasoned photographer. I do believe that not every great photographer out there would equate to being a great teacher; as teaching can be pretty hard to get things across.

But in Alfie’s case his hand’s on teaching approach has proven always successful into making me overcome the hurdles I face in photography.

Gwenny Ruiz

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祐天寺 MODELLING, HAIR, STYLING Akiko Inoue PHOTOGRAPHER Gwenny Ruiz ART DIRECTION & POST-PRODUCTION Alfie Goodrich

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A characterful neighbourhood, a playful model, a bag of cameras & some lights....

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d Streets

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