Tokyo 2016.
While I was exploring Tokyo, so many people caught my eyes that I suddenly remembered that I'd promised to continue doing my photography project haha, so I decided to try it out in an absolutely foreign country.
Was a bit afraid of doing it at first but surprisingly all of the people that I've approached (except for an older couple) were nice enough to let me photograph them. Well to be honest, I didn't really ask that many people. *sad face*. Still wasn't brave enough to approach all of the people that I found interesting.
Took my first few photos in Cat Street. Ok I'm not even sure if this place is called Cat Street, haha but my friends and I passed by this place when we were on the way to Shibuya from Harajuku. Then the next day I decided to go there alone because I really really liked it. And there was this shop called Ragtag which I love. It's just a shop that sells secondhand branded goods (clothings/bags/shoes etc). Even though they were secondhand they weren't exactly that cheap (because they're still branded ok) so I bought nothing... Just enjoyed looking at things that I can't afford you know... lol.
This was the first group of people that I approached and this was shot in front of American Apparel.
They were incredibly friendly and because of the great start, I started to have more courage and was able to start asking more people for photos.
As I was walking further down the street, I noticed a little corner where people who wanted to smoke would stop by and smoke a cig or two there. And there was a girl sitting there, fumbling around her bag for her cigarettes. I asked her if I could take some photos of her and she just smiled and nodded. She wanted to pose for me but I told her to just continue with what she was doing and omg the most amazing thing happened. She just resumed what she was doing IMMEDIATELY and took out her ciggs and lit them up. I've never shot someone so natural in front of the camera before. Would love to shoot more photos of her but well, I didn't have enough courage to keep asking for more. But I'm truly happy with how the photos turned out.
Confession: To be honest, I never like any of the photos that I take. Also, I'm extremely ashamed that I shoot using a DSLR. I feel like I can only produce decent pictures using a good camera which is something very not applaudable. I'm also ashamed that regardless of the camera that I use, the photos that I take are mediocre, so I don't usually show people my photos. But for the very first time, I really really like these photos of her. Of course, the shadows on her face, the lightings, the smoke, the way she looks into the camera were all accidental and I for sure, was not the one who directed it.
But still, these are actually my favourite photos up till now.
Wish I could speak Japanese and have a real conversation with her. I could feel that she's a really really nice girl even though she didn't speak any English. I'd love to know more about her but the only thing (besides her photos) that she left for me was her name - Megumi.
The next 2 people that I approached were workers of a small little shop that I found round the corner (which I don't remember the name of). This shop sells 2nd hand goods too but the things that they sell are mainly targeted towards men.
The two of them were nice enough to have a brief conversation with me about the shop even though I didn't buy anything from them, lol. Apparently this shop here is just another branch and their main store is in Daikanyama. They import their stuff from USA so they were a bit pricey but their goods were really vintage lol. They had things like old lighters, sunglasses, oh and also men's clothings.
There're loads of well-dressed people in Tokyo and what I loved about them was that they're mostly very unique. They're trendy but they don't all have the same hairstyle, the same piece of clothing, the same shoes, the same kind of style. Of course, most of the girls go with the Igari make up style but at least, they modify haha.
Will also be doing part 2 tomorrow. It'll still be the same theme, but the photos are taken in a different neighbourhood.
