A photographer Yuki Kumagai’s photo book ‘Interlude’ is released from the publishing project “Lula BOOKS”.
A solo exhibition commemorating this release is being held at the bookstore and gallery “BOOK AND SONS” until June 5th (Sun).
This time, Lula Japan conducted a special interview with Kumagai.
Looking back on his journey as a photographer, he once again spoke about his inner thoughts.
We asked him about what he feels now, how he deals with photography, and his outlook for the future.
What made you start doing photography?
I was originally interested in photography. I wasn't in an environment where I could touch a camera, but I wanted to try it and that’s why I started.
I really liked the photographer Masafumi Sanai
I also found music and film interesting, but had no idea how I should interact with them.
Then I picked up a camera just because I was interested in expressing myself.
Did you have any concerns or hesitations about pursuing a career as a photographer?
I just tried so hard to live in my teens and twenties. I was nobody, unstable, and my senses were more acute.
In my thirties, I'm busier work-wise, but I feel like I can accept much more things now.
Things are hard when you are nobody.
For me, now it's easier with the job title of “Photographer”, but when I worked at a studio as an assistant, I couldn't even imagine that I could be a photographer or make a living at it.
I could say it was a moratorium, but the struggle of not having roots was very hard, now that I think about it. I was multi-sensory.
My mentor, Osamu Yokonami, had a very strong influence on me.
The two to three years I spent as his assistant were really significant.
He gave me the soil to become a member of society and to make a living as a photographer.
Thanks to him for making me feel like there is no need to back to the past.
Now that you have been independent for almost seven years, have your feelings or the way you photograph changed at all?
Conversely, is there anything that has remained the same throughout your career as a photographer?
I think there are good and bad times when techniques improve and you can capture the pictures very beautifully. There is a moment better when I first started, without thinking.
Sometimes I think it would have been better if I had taken pictures on initial impulse, because I start to think about it too much.
You will be capable of doing a lot of things by inertia, so I want to be careful about that as the years go by.
On the other hand, I think there are some things that can be seen by shooting and keep working on it.
I want to be faithful to photography all the way through.
I learnt a lot about how to face photography from Yokonami.
Do you switch anything for shooting between your personal work and fashion photography?
Or are there certain things that remain the same?
I don't think it's that different.
However, I feel that we are a team at work, and that is by far the biggest difference.
The point at which something feels nice is the same.
That is what makes me press the shutter.
For example, when I photograph people's expressions, I always admire people with distant eyes.
Ennui, not quite to the point of emptiness, although...
Then there's anonymity.
I feel like I select things that I think have depth to them, as if I don't know who or where they are.
What is the most enjoyable moment in the creative process?
When I look at the pertinent data and the solid prints.
It's interesting because there's a time lag where you think, "Oh, that's how it turned out.”
There is room for imagination.
All the photographs in ‘Interlude’ are also taken with films.
When I'm working, it's the moment when I get it right in the process of creating something as a team.
I find that really enjoyable.
Do you have a favourite artist or creator who inspires you?
Or is there some kind of work that has influenced you?
The painters Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele have always been my favourites.
If I could draw, I wanted to be a painter.
I was also surprised when I first saw Masafumi Sanai's work.
I used to think that a photo book had to be made up of the same things and you had to create a concept before I started taking photographs.
For example, only buildings or nudes.
But when I saw Sanai's photographs, he was taking pictures of an ordinary ashtray, which I thought was cool.
I was surprised that there was such a way of doing it, and then I got to know Wolfgang Tillmans and a lot of other people, and it gradually expanded.
Do you consciously set aside time to input something from your daily life?
In everyday life, I think it is better to look at things that are as unrelated as possible.
For example, if you are taking fashion photos and you look at foreign magazines or something, your senses will be pulled in, so it is better not to look at them as much as possible.
I am conscious of the fact that I should be able to be influenced by unrelated sources.
Mountain climbing also changes mountain ranges at different times of the year, I’m not sure if it connects to anything though.
I've come to think that physical exercise is more important every year.
I'm always thinking about work somewhere in my head, but I want to be in a state where I can be influenced by something unrelated with.
I want to keep interested in something.
What challenges do you want to take on from now on?
I want to shoot my personal work digitally, since I have only worked with film.
I want to do it in an environment where it's not about materialising. With film, once you take a picture, the negative itself is material, whether you print it out or make a solid burn.
I want to rethink photography based on the premise of not printing out.
I am interested in what is possible with digital.
A lot of “Interlude" work was really done by sence.
I thought it would be interesting to work on the premise of editing photographs, such as more retouching techniques.
There is no need to be restricted to one way of thinking about it.
Of course, what I want to photograph remains the same, but it seems like there could be a big change if the format is different.
I feel the possibilities and the attraction.
