Interviews Namiko Kitaura gets candid with Fotoflock
Namiko Kitaura was born in Tokyo in 1977. She has had experience as a freelance photographer in Tokyo, London, Paris and as an artist in residence at Fabrica, the Benetton Communication Research Centre in Italy. She produces distinctive images with a strong, personal voice. The implied Romanticism within her works is both abstract and absolute. The images contemplate each other sensually with a sense of graceful motion suspended in a non-temporal framework. She aims to visualize the almost invisible aspects of the human condition that lie below the physical and the juxtaposition: passion in depression, comfort in sadness, tranquility in chaos and beauty in ugliness.
What goes through your mind at the moment you release the shutter? Do you find you lose your awareness of the camera at that moment?
No, I always keep myself aware of my camera. And with my camera, I can go closer and deeper to the subject. I concentrate so much when I shoot that I don't think or calculate much. It is just like meditation. I listen to my senses.
How did you teach yourself photography and what was the first object you shot?
My grandfather was a music composer and worked with Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi etc. (For Seven Samurai, Rashomon and Ugetsu etc). My house was full of photographs and old videos. I started watching films when I was very little and it was very natural for me to start shooting at a very young age. Also, my mother was a singer, so she used to take me to many concerts and plays. There I started getting interested in theatre and music. Even now different media (eg. music, poems and theatre) inspire me very much rather than visual arts. I remember that my very first photographic subjects were my family and pet dogs at the age of 10 or so. I used to shoot them with a very old Canon camera (b&w film inside).
“The reason why I shoot nature is to use it in order to express human psychological condition metaphorically, just like Haiku.”
You have a mixed bag of different kinds of photography like portraits, still life and landscape in your palette. Which kind is your favourite and why?
Well, I find it very natural for me to shoot different subjects. I face the subjects in the same manner, whether it is the ocean or a flower, a person or a stone. My way of approaching never changes depending on the subjects. I just intend to explore my universe through whatever I shoot. My favourite subjects are something surreal and romantic, a bit melancholic.
Talking of portraits in particular, when you photography people, do you feel some sort of emotional exchange?
Yes, I always need to feel intimate when I shoot people. I need to be connected well emotionally, in order to create images with a strong voice.
“It seems to me that the sacred role of photography is disappearing and I kind of miss the whole ceremonial novel atmosphere of photography.”
How do you make your models pose and relax during a particular shoot?
I talk to them before I shoot most of the time. Many times I also shoot people I know well. I tend to shoot people that I feel strongly connected to, so I suppose they feel the same way back.
What according to you are the joys of capturing the nature?
I love being in the nature to start with and I crave for it very much. I feel suffocated living in a big city. The reason why I shoot nature is to use it in order to express human psychological condition metaphorically, just like Haiku.
You have travelled to different corners of the world to click the perfect landscape. What were the unexpected challenges you faced during these visits and how did you overcome them?
Most of the time I just happened to be there. So I guess I have been very lucky so far. Now my challenge is to find a way on how to travel that much with my baby boy.
“I just intend to explore my universe through whatever I shoot. My favourite subjects are something surreal and romantic, a bit melancholic.”
In ‘Still Life’, you have portrayed ‘floral expressions’ in a unique way. Where did you draw your inspiration from?
I started shooting the series when I used to live in London. My experiences of traveling around various countries and meeting women from various backgrounds have been affecting my art very much. I always have been interested in how women are treated in the society. I wanted to express that by shooting flowers metaphorically with connotations.
People like to talk about their 'lucky breaks' but I think it's more hard work and passion that leads to a breakthrough to becoming a professional photographer. When was your breakthrough?
I just like photography so I continued with it and that lead me to FABRICA (www.fabrica.it) Bennetton Communication Research Center for artists. There I started to consider photography as my profession. I guess my breakthrough is right now. As I mentioned earlier, I gave birth to a baby boy last year and now my life is limited physically with a baby. I left Europe where I lived and worked for the past several years and currently I am struggling as a single mother in a conservative Japanese society. I feel full of happiness with my son, but sometimes it is very hard to keep my spirits high and edgy for artistic expression.
How do you feel about the work being done by younger photographers today?
I was lucky that I started my photographic study before digital photography became popular. I experienced darkrooms and shootings with films and Polaroid and that was very precious. With digital cameras and Photoshop, it started becoming very easy to manipulate images, so the meaning of photography and photography as a medium are now changing. It seems to me that the sacred role of photography is disappearing and I kind of miss the whole ceremonial novel atmosphere of photography. I feel that there are so many talented photographers and I hope they will continue shooting and keep in mind that photography is a way to capture souls.
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