Naoyuki Ogino COURTESY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER NAOYUKI OGINO switched gears from studying astrophysics to photography, a decision he considers as an awakening. Born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1975, he has lived among different cultures since childhood, in constant search of roots and a sense of belonging. Awarded the 2006 Grand Prize of the Japan Photographers’ Union in Tokyo, he also participated in Pingyao International Photography Festival in 2007, as well as the Tashkentale Photo Festival, and China-Japan Photography Exhibition at the Beijing National Palace Museum in 2008. Since 1998, he has held several solo and group exhibitions in Mexico, the United States, Taiwan, and other countries. Most recently, he published a book of photography, A Geisha’s Journey: My Life as a Kyoto Apprentice (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2008). The French edition is also available from Éditions Aubanel (Paris, 2009). He currently lives in the city of Kyoto. Visit his website at naoyukiogino.jp.

What kind of photography aesthetics attract you most? To put it most plainly, I am attracted to photographs that speak to me as “a flow and flood” of emotions, impressions, inspirations or feelings. For me, any sort of image aesthetics needs a sensual appeal in order to work. In terms of a non-verbal language, a good image is like a zone that can communicate with my interior world, delivering in return a kind of energy that leaves me feeling satisfied or pleased as a photographer. A kind of eternity inhabits the moment once a photograph is taken. In this sense, photography contains moments that hold eternities. I am interested in taking such photographs, i.e. the ones that hold fleeting moments of eternity. In a way, photographs are the simplest images, as compared to a movie, for example, which is a combination of various visual elements and dimensions. There is more than just length and breadth in each image of a film. That sometimes renders an image “fuzzier.” Art imitates life, as the common saying goes. I believe photography is a kind of aesthetics that imitate nature. It is a metaphor for nature; I like to explore how close or far, strong or weak this metaphor can represent our immediate surroundings. That is how I define beauty. However, I pay equal, if not more, attention to the environment because it is the environment after all that keeps us alive. Tell me more about your intimacy with the camera. How has your “eye” changed since your decision to live by photography? Having a relationship with the camera has given me the chance to open the interior me to nature — that’s the biggest change in my “eye” that I’ve experienced insofar. My relationship with the camera is like a base that supports all other aspects of my life… It’s very nourishing. It allows me to evaluate what I would consider as beauty, and is my point of contact to the physical surroundings. Subject is a very tricky element of photography — it either defines the image or swallows it. Is there a particular subject and energy that entices you? I go for the instants — instants that reveal people living in their nature. People whose presence evokes the scent of their mother-land attract me most.

Naoyuki Ogino During a Book Signing
COURTESY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER

I am also interested in cultures that define themselves in terms of the stored energies of their surroundings, especially the Mongoloid people, who moved from Asia to American through the Bering Sea during the Ice Age. I was very surprised to have discovered them when I stayed in Mexico during my childhood, and recognised in the Mongoloid people similarities between native Mexicans and Japanese.

I keep my inspirations alive through travels — overseas travels or simply daily life “travels.” Connecting with other art forms helps me “breathe.” Meeting new people or surroundings, discovering new perspectives, being conscient and present in my daily life…all these bring in oxygen for my inspirations.

You were a scientist before! Why did you decide to abandon physics and devote your life to a camera?

I wasn’t a good physics student, but I liked (and still like) to think about the universe. I wanted to become an astro-physicist. But after studying physics in mathematical terms, I felt the limits of my motivation… I wanted to understand not just the linear or mathematical angle of this discipline, I also wanted to learn about the non-mathematical or non-verbal philosophies that relate to my surroundings. Let’s use the “yin-yang” metaphor as an example.

In our society today that is mostly governed by capitalism, people live their lives that way too: ‘yang’ dominates ‘yin.’ When this realisation dawned on me, I decided to adopt a lifestyle that takes care of both the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ elements, and to work in a medium that allows me to express myself entirely.”

Mathematics is like a part of the “yang” that does not take much of the “yin” into account. This does not simply apply to mathematics. In our society today that is mostly governed by capitalism, people live their lives that way too: “yang” dominates “yin.” When this realisation dawned on me, I decided to adopt a lifestyle that takes care of “yin” and “yang” elements, and to work in a medium that allows me to express myself entirely.

When I was young, my father moved between Japan and Mexico on three occasions. We moved together. So I had many cross-cultural encounters. Facing new classmates in a foreign country without understanding their language, I had to feel the atmosphere and stare at their expressions in order to understand them. This became my habit, to express what I smelt or felt through staring, that is. That is how photography became my best tool for communication. And this is the main reason why I choose photography.

Do you seek a kind of truth when taking pictures? What do you allow your images to capture?

No. I do not seek a kind of truth from my photographs.

A Geisha's Journey
BY Naoyuki Ogino

I believe in the strength of photography for imitating nature, but I would not say this is the “truth.”

In Japanese, the word “photograph” is translated as “shasin,” which is composed of two Chinese characters that literally mean “graphing/ tracing” and “truth.” I think this is a translation “mistake” or bias when importing the characters “photography” from other cultures into the Japanese language

This misleading translation has an unconscious (but not insignificant) effect on us, particularly on the vision of Japanese photographers concerning the art of photography.

At least I was very much affected. In the past, I was very conscious of seeking the truth, like a journalist. But now, I tend to consider this as a biased view, i.e. the fact that photography reveals the truth. It is a bias akin to seeing only the “yang” element out of the “yin-yang” combination.

I now believe in the shades and ambiguities of a truth. I think truth varies in different contexts, like background, education, or personality. Truth is mobile and changes through time. Even if a photograph had captured truth in it, I do not think that an image is capable of conveying the complete truth because it is not a one-way communication; it depends on the viewer too. Rather, I think the photograph connotes vagueness; it is not a verbal language.

Naoyuki Ogino During a Book Signing
COURTESY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Most importantly, I believe that it is very important to acknowledge this zone of vagueness, a zone where the vague/invisible “yin” fuses with the visible “yang.” This is a melting point that I now seek through photography. I paraphrase it as the “cloud” between documentary and art, in which I seek the scents of culture reflecting their lands through the people.

Tell me more about your working process — before and after the “click.”

Most of my works are based on a link from my past; someone whom I met, or something from before…

Consider my working process as a voyage: I am on a ship with a mast (shaved with my subject and energy attracting me), holding a sail (woven from my nature), catching the wind (blown from my surroundings) on the waters (named the Mongoloid’s cultural block) and on my hand I am holding a compass (balancing yin and yang) for seeking the treasures (accumulated with the scents of the cultures). When my ship anchors at a port, I usually find one particular person as a guide to help immerse myself into the culture. Then I will just try to approach the ordinary people, and walk into their immediate living conditions — totally and honestly. This is how I begin shooting, and this is the first half of my photography creation.

Upon returning home, I embark upon my second shooting process: confronting the developed films. Selecting images for the final showcase is like diving alternately into my unconscious and conscious.