Photo Projects (con’t)

The Cat’s Meow (2023)
The Cat’s Meow captures the brutal reality of life in my own front yard. My housemate’s cat, Tabitha, loves to patrol the property multiple times a day, leaving nothing alive beyond the owner’s plants. This mini-photo project is the result of one of her captures.

Portrait of the Pandemic (2020-2021)
I wanted to create a unique interpretation of this pandemic in an impactful, yet visually digestible project. The outcome is this monstrosity that speaks to (or muffles) all of us: masks. This project initially began as as a series of story posts on my Instagram page of things like bird feathers, garbage, etc. that I found walking around in Tokyo. It was around the same time the pandemic started I noticed an appalling number of discarded masks. Each one belonged to someone, was worn in an intimate place on the face, and departed from its owner. The more masks I photographed, the more they became more than just masks. The semiotics of each seeped through: history, location, color, size, level of decay, immediate surroundings—each mask is a unique portrait that not only captures the essence of that period of time in the owners life, but it’s a component of this pandemic with which we all recognize because we’ve all dealt with masks in some form or another. Systematically documenting each mask I came across using the gridlines in my cameraphone, I’ve collected more than 500 images of masks in several major cities in two different countries: Japan and America: Tokyo, Los Angeles, Osaka, San Diego, Cincinnati, Detroit, New York City, as well as several smaller towns sprinkled throughout. From March 2020 to November 2021, this grid contains 400 masks (20X20 to represent 2020).

Tokyo BLM Protests (2020)
Organized by a student at Temple University Japan, hundreds upon hundreds of Tokyoites came out to show their support for racial equality. Being there was incredible. Seeing so many foreigners and nationals living in Tokyo gather together to march against police brutality and show support for the Black Lives Matter movement going on around the world was awe-inspiring. By no means was it anything compared to the protests in the States, in fact, the cops were keeping it under tight control.

Tokyo Under Construction (2019)
This project is a series of images that focus on the ongoing construction and constantly changing landscape of Tokyo from the perspective of the pedestrian. As access from within the sites wasn’t available, I decided to shoot this in a voyeuristic manner, turning my eye to scenes that may be perceived as unsightly or simply overlooked.

Tokyo Marathon 2019
Chasing some of the 37,952 runners through the maze buildings and streets via trains all over the world’s largest city, these images feature journalistic style photography covering the event.

Not Too Far From Home (2018)
Part of a collaborative exhibition book project, Not Too Far From Home is a documentary-style collection of images of six inner coastal towns of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. I originally went to document typhoon damage, however found strong allure in the character and aesthetic of their atmosphere with the smell of the sea.

Jatthr (2018)
This wasn't necessarily intended to be a photo project, so I suppose it’s simply more of a collection of photographs that I made over the course of a week in beautiful Greece.

Euphony (2018)
Professional ballet dancer and teacher Natsuki Oshima was gracious enough to share her private studio with me one evening so I could capture these images. As she performed her routine along to classical music, I tried to capture the crescendos, rhythm, and melodies within her movements. This project is intended for book printing.

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