My favorite pen ran out ink

My favorite pen ran out of ink (August, 2024) (photography, fine art)
2024 International Photography Awards - Honorable Mention,
Fine Art Book Category

My favorite pen ran out of ink is an interpretation of my experience living in Japan as an expat student in search of my artistic voice. Life in Tokyo offers a strange sense of isolation and freedom, which allows for uncertainty and self-discovery. Through heartaches, failures, and occasional successes, I found my voice in calling out to that universal emotional resonance—a feeling that connects us all.

Each copy is hand bound, signed, numbered, and includes an original photo print from my wall editing sequence.

First edition - first print run - SOLD OUT
First edition - second print run - COMING SOON

Sneak peak:

The process:

If I were to add up the time dedicated to what this book became; the years spent living and experiencing Japan full speed, the endless nights and days going out to shoot more and more photos to find the weird and beautiful, the unending hours of critiques, workshops, and portfolio reviews, not to mention the thousands of rejected photos and changed concepts! They’ve all contributed to this final project in one way or another.
I could’ve made 10 projects out of my years there, but I wanted to focus my energy into one strong photo book/art project. Into one that expressed how intensely I see the delicate world around us. Into one that shows what it feels like to call a place home that sees me as a foreigner. Into one that challenged me to create something beyond what I could have imagined.

From Tokyo to California to Santa Fe to Ohio, this project has lived on many walls.
Laying out the photos in this way helps to get a better overall understanding of what the photos and project are saying.

I taught myself how to (terribly) write out a haiku I wrote in Japanese, which became an endsheet in the original hand-bound copies.

Sewing the book was the final step, and one of the trickiest. Keeping the pages neatly in-line while the thread tight for the duration resulted in some bloody fingers…but hey, it’s all in the name of Art!