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"Drawn into the subject, I instinctively become ready for anything.."
When I was painting, I used to practice composition and sketching. I don't know if it's because of that or not, but I really don't have to think about composition much. I just let my senses lead me to the shot. I think that's my strong point. But my shots can sometimes be a bit too neatly composed, and when that happens, I feel that my photos lack a certain something.
These days, lots of people want to become photographers, so you have to find a way to project your individuality. When people see my photos, I want them to be able to instantly say, "Yoko Ono took that photograph." That's the kind of photo I hope I can continue to take.
As for my shooting style, I try to approach my subjects naturally, and talk to them to create a rapport that allows me to blend in, so that I can shoot from within a more intimate context.
Sometimes, I can spontaneously respond to those fleeting moments of light, shadow, and facial expression that make a truly great a good shot. It happened to me several times when I was photographing the Dong peoples in China, and when in countries such as Yemen. When I'm on a shoot, I like to wander around the location until something catches my eye. When that happens, my legs seem to move with a will of their own as I'm drawn toward the subject. It's as though all my senses are switched on. My body has a mind of its own as I move closer to the subject. While talking to a subject, I've even pressed the shutter without noticing.
One of the photos shown here is called "A Street Corner in Sanaa," a shot I took in Yemen using an Olympus E-330. On that shoot, which lasted four days, I took only six gigabytes of photos. But when I returned to Japan and showed them to my husband, he said he thought I had enough material for a solo exhibition. The result was my exhibition entitled "Yemen - The Heartland of Arabia," at the Olympus Gallery.
Also shown here is "Smiles in a Northern Land," taken with an E-410, and "A Fine, Restful Day," taken with an E-420. It doesn't really matter to me which particular lens or piece of equipment I use to take a shot, and on this occasion, I thought these light, compact, and easy-to-use Olympus cameras were perfect for the job. I particularly appreciated the E-System's dust reduction system working in the dry desert environment in Yemen.
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