You are not a Party Person, Lomographer, DJ, Snapshot Aesthetic or Sexy photo lover in Tokyo if you don't know who Yasumasa Yonehara is. Yone, which he goes by is the iconic editor and photographer who claims that hes not really a photographer; whose style was blatantly ripped off by American Apparel to propel them to fame (among many individual photographers that try to mimic his style). I had the opportunity to party and chill with him last month in Tokyo and talked a lot about his intentions with photography, editing and art.
The greater Kanto area is over 42 million people and the deeper you get into the central Tokyo 23 wards the more and more each person attempts to have their own individual look. If you so happen to catch a glance of Yone you will know him dead on sight. His classic modified but clearly derived from Los Angeles Latino gangster style with hat turned to the side is a look that he pulls off perfectly in a city that people try to be anyone but the boring Salarymen that overpopulate the Yamanote line. He pulls off his look as the same as he pulls off all of his activities, which include partying all the time at Tokyo night clubs, photographing incredibly beautiful models with point and shoot cameras which include his signature Fuji Cheki camera. I have personally used the Cheki for eight years because I always loved the size of the images better than the Polaroid format. A few of his other activities include being the photographer and editor for ad campaigns with KFC, Zippo, Diesel Jeans and numerous other international brands along with throwing photo/art shows in China and Taiwan at the moment. Most 50 years old should be so lucky, just watch him in a crowd of people; everybody loves him, anyone can admire that kind of love from the people. Still with all this love he is entirely approachable and might even be willing to give you his valuable time.
When speaking of his work he details his approach to photography like this "I want it to seem like there are no cameras at all, and I am capturing the real essence of the person." Yone details that he loves photos of real people, and after all only the real people in those real peoples lives can take such great photos of each other. When he showed my his photo compilation of his first very successful magazine "Out of Photographers (1995-2000)," I felt that this was his proudest work because it really exemplifies the style of photography that he loves. The latest and easiest to acquire book "Tokyo Amour" details Yone's famous lo-fi sexy style that the world has come to love and imitate. He claims that everyone likes to look at photos and people are horny, so if you search for his work he uses the "HornYone" or "Horny Yone" moniker at times to brand his style of photography. Companies like lomography once discovering him have been seeking his help since their beginning in the 1990's, in which he threw shows for them in Austria. Yone's style must have rubbed off onto the famous American photographer Terry Richardson after spending a week in Tokyo with Yone in 1996. Take a look at Terry's work, his famous work has been done post that trip to Japan. The beautiful thing about their relationship is their distinctly different approach to a similar subset of photography. Both personalities transcend photography and possibly even their own work, that is one of the many things that is so great about them.
Like any artist, if you like his work support the products that he produces. In America is a little hard to do unless you attend one of his shows, which he has had several.
When in a Tokyo night club keep your eyes wide open for a baseball cap and a group of the best looking women in the club and you might just have a encounter with the horny one :)
I'm not the kind of fella that walks into a strip club that often, heck you could count on one hand how many times I have been to them in my life. So when I hear about someone doing a pole dance I immediately think strip club, but I am wrong. Pole dancing has become quite popular in Tokyo and classes are attended by many regular people and are considered a skill outside of the strip clubs. Tokyo really does not have that many strip clubs; its mostly other things men are interested in like soapland of hostess bars. That's why you will find the best strip clubs in Tokyo in foreign dominated area like Roppongi or Shinjuku. I have to say I was quite startled by the skill it takes to do the pole dance, and quickly learned that in these low light conditions only a flash could capture images that would be worth anything.
Old friends make good models too. Vicke has had a tough year and really needed something to get her mood back up. I suggested we take photos; hehe like I never suggest that to anybody. It's probably the first thing I say to someone when I meet him or her :)
So on with it, we shot in Shibuya, Shinjuku and the Yoyogi Koen area. There are some very nice places in Yoyogi Koen and we really enjoyed trying to find the right kind light late at night to get the type of sexy and moody photos we were going for. He funniest thing to me is that she's the kind of person that when people are looking at her she smiles, but I was able to get her without a smile so that I could change her character dramatically for this fun shoot.
My apartment in Tokyo was technically in Yoyogi Koen, but we shot a few kilometers from my place. There are a lot of nice places to live in that area once you go a block or so from Yamate-dori. I really enjoyed getting up every morning and walking two to three kilometers to get to the Shibuya station. Most of my destinations could have technically gone from the Tokyo Metro Yoyogi Koen station or if I was going to Shinjuku I could take Odakyu's Yoyogi-Hachiman Station.
Miki and I met up in Shibuya at Hachiko, who ever meets anyone anywhere else in the Shibuya area? She is a race Queen and some other stuff, but this was her first time on a shoot other than the standard stuff. She's making her way with her career, which I think, is great; you have to make your moves when you are able to do it. We shot for a few hours total, among the places we shot were the major crosswalk in Shibuya and a few other smaller stations.
So we took a few fun photos and then went on or merry way, we were both pretty tired that day so the shoot only lasted about 2 hours. She's pretty tall for a Japanese woman and her friend that introduced us says she calls her the Japanese Beyonce; I guess its up to you to see if that is correct :)
I have always been fascinated with the crosswalk at Shibuya, I have been told that is 10x busier than Times Square in New York. What that means to me is that pretty much every single every day even in the least busy time in the early morning there will be a decent amount of people crossing it. I'm pretty sure that that cannot be said about many places in the world.
I am back from Japan and have got quite a few galleries to put up over the coming weeks. This first one is a bit lighthearted and is part of a new Motif I will be working on called Joshua & You. So if you know me you will probably end up in one of these galleries at some point, and if you don't know me you I hope you will too! Some photos are blurred and no where near perfect and I never intended them to be, but try taking photos drunk and excited like I am in many of these at clubs in Tokyo.
A special thanks to Le Baron Tokyo, Club Velours in Aoyama and all my other club stops. Also thanks to my buddy Yasumasa Yonehara for several of the invites.
Speaking of the upcoming galleries, I will have a write-up on Yone and his unique style along with killer exclusive photos. I will also be throwing up several model galleries along with other interesting galleries of things I find special in Japan. So enjoy this one and check back often :)
Everything old is gone again. As you may notice this site is now a blank slate with just these few new galleries, well it just feels good to do that. I may at some time show older work but with the workload that I see coming these next few months I will have more content this year than possibly the last 3 years combined.
Lets just say this looking at these photos, I will be shooting Saori again and sooner rather than later. People that have followed my site for a while know I tend to go to proven models I have worked with rather than always looking for new talent. I hope to do more of both, the models that I find that are really special will be shot again, and I will looks for new models actively. So far so good, six new galleries do far this year and six new models. That being said I will be posting other types of galleries too, which are really my true passion.
Sarori is talent that shows through in each and every photo, its one of those times that I just have to worry about my end and she does her stuff. One might think that I would want more collaboration and that is true and we will see even more of that next time.
Dreams are what drive me. I have seen photos in my dreams which I have tried to reproduce in my waking life, I strive to make them as convincing as my dream state. As I write this I am in Tokyo, which is my dream city. It would not be so perfect to me if I lived here, sporadic visits make it much more sexy. I will be shooting models that will be posted here within due tie and most importantly new non model galleries.
Emi has the American Dream, while it is different for each person that has this dream she is doing it herself without any outside help and I really respect that. She knows that people have her back but no one loves yourself truly like yourself. She is another first time model that once we got going were ale to produce shots she was very happy with. I see another gallery of her coming in fall.
Hopefully the old site dwellers can figure out the new interface of this site, I consider this simply a base set of features which I have plan to build on over the summer. I have added the facebook comment engine so please use it. I have always been a fan of real name comments and if you are a facebook user (200 million plus) this is as simple as signing into your account or having it open in another browser or tab and your good to go to comment.
Boxers come in many classes, if Yuka was a boxer she would be a knockout puncher. She has the swagger and the confidence that it takes, and the complete belief in self. with these characteristics you would think shes a take no prisoners type of person but I get a very kind impression of Yuka, shes nice to everyone and really enjoys herself. That is a beautiful balance.
There are few colors like red, it says above all colors look at me and respect my beauty. What is more beautiful than Dracula standing over his prey with red blood smothered over his face? Just to be clear, when I say Dracula I mean Bela Lugosi. That being said, very few people can wear read and get away with it, I for one have very few red items in my wardrobe, besides a few bloody tuxes hehhhheehehhe "I come to suck your blood!"
I really enjoyed working with Anneken (Yes like Luke's father), because she already had a pretty good idea of the types of looks that she looks good in. Working with her reminds me of how much I love working with models that are not afraid of their own body.
Lets face it in America Columbia is pretty much know for its crops. That being said I bet the first two you can think of are Coffee and Cocaine, I guess its to each their own! But as seen in this gallery it can be known for its timeless beauties. The things that really stand out for me are her absolutely perfect teeth and golden brown eyes, those catch you without you knowing your caught.
I spent about a hour working with Yaneth (pronounced like Jaanee, like the Japanese good bye phrase. She has quite a lot of confidence as a first time model and really hit some decent poses even though she was just having fun with it all, which I will say is much like myself.
Sheets are some of the most sensual objects you can work with, most other things seem too contrived. I remember growing up I always loved my Return of the Jedi and Sesame Street sheets the best because they were old and washed to a silky feeling. Cotton sheets are like wine in that way, I think they get better and better with age from multiple loving washes. Too bad I no longer sleep in a twin bed or I might just have to throw those sheets back on for a cuddly nights sleep.
I really like how these white sheets dominate the space to model ratio in these photos. A thin model and thin sheets work together seamlessly, if the models has too many curves then it throws this type of balance off. While taking these photos I was reminded of the works of Sei Shonagon and how she would describe every day observations so beautifully.