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The Flame is Still Burning…
I framed this image at the Altare della Patria in Rome, positioning myself low enough that the eternal flame rose against the statues behind it. I wanted the flame to feel alive, not simply ornamental, so I allowed it to breathe in the frame — neither perfectly centred nor clipped — letting the movement of the fire contrast with the stony immobility of the figures. Technically, it’s a shot about balance. The ornate bronze of the burner holds deep shadows and highlights, and getting both to read required a careful exposure, leaning slightly toward underexposing to preserve the flame’s detail. The sky was playing along that day, with just enough…
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Wasubot. A Stiff Organ Player@Tsukuba
Photographing WASUBOT, the humanoid robot from the Tsukuba Expo ’85, is an exercise in humility. This iconic machine, a piece of robotics history, has been standing in the same pose for decades, its metal tendons and cables forever poised over the keyboard. Every visitor with a camera or a phone has taken a shot like this. The result is a paradox: the subject is inherently fascinating, but the visual narrative is weighed down by over-familiarity. In this frame, I approached the challenge by focusing on clarity and accuracy. The composition is anchored in a three-quarter view, revealing both WASUBOT’s intricate mechanical anatomy and the keyboard interface it was designed to…
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A (Tokyo) Taxi Driver
I caught this frame mid-morning, in Tokyo’s Minato ward, just as the light turned hard and directional. The geometry of the taxi stopped at a crossing gave me a textbook profile—clean lines, bold colour, and a perfectly lit subject behind glass. But it’s the stillness that made me press the shutter. The driver, upright, masked, motionless, waiting. Not just for the green light, but within his own geometry of routine. This is a city known for velocity, and yet here he sits—disciplined, stoic, almost ceremonial in posture. The orange livery and chequered band recall a different decade, and with the crisp white gloves and lace seat covers, the car itself…
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Silhouettes@Osaka Castle
I shot this frame just before sunset, outside the grounds of Osaka Castle. I wasn’t chasing history or architecture—just silhouettes. The timing was right: the light low enough to flatten depth, strong enough to cast hard contours. The figures that passed in front of me weren’t posing, just walking—some slow, some hurried, all perfectly unaware of the geometry they were helping to construct. What worked here was the compression of scale. The castle, distant but looming, becomes almost secondary—a backdrop with less narrative weight than the humans slicing across the foreground. Their outlines are clean, their gestures distinct. A child’s exaggerated stride, a backpack slung low, a coat flaring out…
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Pizza Maker@Ueno’s Park
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Shin Pepper@Harajuku
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The Silent Ceremony
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Red Cross
Some photographs are taken instinctively, almost without the usual premeditation that guides my framing. This one emerged from a walk at night, when the glow of an illuminated red circle caught my eye—a signal cutting through the darkness. At its centre, a cross of tiny LEDs blinked rhythmically, part medical icon, part abstract light sculpture. Framing it was straightforward: the dark surroundings worked like a natural vignette, pushing the viewer’s gaze towards the centre. I positioned myself to keep the circle symmetrical within the frame, knowing that the composition’s strength would lie in its stark simplicity. Technically, this was a delicate balance. Shooting at night with such a bright light…
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Damned Pidgeons…
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The Aperitif
This image was taken quickly, just as I passed the window. What struck me wasn’t the act of drinking — which is unremarkable in itself — but the multiple surfaces at play. A woman in profile, lifting her glass; a man absorbed in his phone; reflections of pedestrians I didn’t see until after the shutter clicked. And then the writing — bold, cartoonish, childish even — floating across the image like subtitles with no film. I shot through the glass deliberately, without trying to erase myself or the distractions. The transparency becomes part of the narrative. The drawing on the window, playful and crude, contrasts with the subdued tones inside:…
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Claws of Fire
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Matching Nails
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Conversation
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Seats
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Natural Silohuette
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The Glassmaster
I took this photograph in a small workshop where the air was thick with heat and the faint scent of molten silica. The man at the bench was a veteran glassblower, his movements so fluid they seemed choreographed—every rotation of the blowpipe, every precise turn of the wrist, shaped the glowing mass at its tip into something delicate and exact. In composing the image, I wanted to give space to the environment. This wasn’t simply a portrait; it was a record of a craft. The cluttered benches, the brick furnace, the scattered tools—these were as much a part of the story as the craftsman himself. I framed him slightly off-centre,…
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Interpreti Veneziani – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Live@San Vidal
I took this photograph in the interval just after the final piece had ended. The applause was still fading, and the musicians were easing out of performance mode and back into themselves. That is the moment I am often most drawn to—the release, the unguarded shift from concentration to relief or quiet joy.
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The Spectators
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Yet Another Tokyo Tower Nightshot
It’s a cliché, and it knows it. Tokyo Tower, photographed countless times from every angle, under every sky, in every season. And yet—here it is again, demanding to be seen. This frame sidesteps the usual postcard treatment. Shot from below, the tower’s latticework bursts upward into the night, slicing through blackness with an almost aggressive geometry. The steel glows in saturated reds and yellows, while electric blue dots climb its spine like frozen sparks. The colour contrast is jarring, theatrical, impossible to ignore. What makes it work is the tilt. The camera’s skewed perspective turns the familiar into something unstable, almost vertiginous. The structure seems to lean, to lurch forward,…
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The Commuter
He was already asleep when I boarded. Head bowed, earphones in, hands gently clasped over a leather bag as if the weight of his entire week rested beneath his fingers. The sun had just begun to bleed through the train window—flat and indifferent—casting the kind of unflattering, directional light that most photographers instinctively reject. But I didn’t. I raised my phone and shot. This isn’t a grand composition. It’s quiet. Framed tightly, perhaps even uncomfortably so, with the seat backs hemming in the edges and drawing the eye into the compact geometry of his body folded forward. The line of the armrest cleaves the image horizontally, a visual interruption that…
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Three Legged?
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Restaurant or Killing House?
Taken in Tokyo, this photograph shows the façade of Musashi, a ramen restaurant, but the presentation is far from the warm, inviting atmosphere one might expect from an eatery. At night, under the glare of its signage, the scene takes on an ambiguous mood. The bold kanji, stark in black against an overexposed white panel, dominate the frame’s upper third, flanked by circular emblems. Below, the silhouette of a swordsman — rendered in cut-out form with glowing characters down the centre — adds an almost cinematic tension, more reminiscent of a samurai film poster than a dinner venue. From a compositional standpoint, the frame is split into strong horizontal bands:…
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Gary O’ Toole
Photographing live music is an exercise in timing, anticipation, and luck — and this frame of Gary O’Toole behind his kit captures all three in motion. I shot this during a concert where the energy on stage was matched only by the enthusiasm in the audience. Gary, in his element, was caught mid-expression, the sort of look that comes only when a musician is entirely at one with his instrument. Compositionally, the image works through a layered perspective: the guitarist’s back in the foreground leads the viewer’s gaze directly toward the drummer, framed by the gleaming brass of the cymbals and the forest of hardware. That over-the-shoulder view adds intimacy,…
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Nick Beggs
Nick Beggs isn’t just a musician—he’s a presence. Capturing him live isn’t about nailing the perfect frame, it’s about riding the wave of his performance and locking it into a split second. I took this shot during one of those dense, layered passages where the light is moody and the mix is full. He stood immersed in the music, double-neck bass cradled like a weapon or a relic, commanding and concentrated. Technically, this photo walks a tightrope. Stage lighting can be merciless—strong contrasts, saturated colours, and constant shifts. I went for a low ISO to preserve detail, knowing I’d have to push shadows in post. The main light hit his…
