Japanese Fantasy photographers

As you might know, cosplay is a big thing in Japan as well as cosplay photography. Some photo studios and photographers are even specialized in cosplay photography. But there is also a scene of Japanese photographers that produce original pieces that have an amazing fantasy vibe.

I have visited a few photo exhibitions of such photographers in recent months and am planning to visit more in the future. So I wanted to share my experience and give you some recommendations.

Everland Exhibition by Yumi Gejo & Ariana in collaboration with CoCoonharuka

Yumi is a female photographer that does a lot of work inspired by Lord of the Rings and Disney movies. In her works, the models turn into elves, fairies, mermaids or characters from Alice in Wonderland. With her shooting and editing skills, usage of props and location choices she makes these fantasy portraits looks very realistic. I also had the opportunity to work with her once and the pictures turned out really great.

Ariana is a model that does a lot of modelling for fantasy and alternative photo shoots. She has an amazing repertoire of poses and expressions and is also very skilled in terms of makeup and hairstyling.

Every year the two of them hold an exhibition that has the theme “Fairies” in the gallery “Gallery Miru” in Shibuya. This year it took place from July 19 to July 25. The theme was fairies through the seasons, and you could not only look at the amazing photographs but some of the costumes and props were on display as well. It felt like being in a fantasy world.

The animal dolls were provided by the artist CoCoonharuka.

Most of the costumes were self-made by either Yumi or Ariana.

The entry is free so if you are interested in this kind of photography, you should definitely go next year. You can check out the Instagram of Yumi here and the Instagram of Ariana here.

“Mirai He no Okurimono” (Present to the future ) Exhibition by Haseo Hasegawa

Haseo is a very famous photographer in Japan. He was the first Japanese photographer to do shootings for Playboy magazine and has won several international photography awards.

He did a solo exhibition at the Fujifilm Gallery in Tokyo in July. It is over already but currently, he has an exhibition ongoing in Osaka until August 16 at the Fujifilm Gallery in Osaka. Travelling to Osaka is probably not a good idea at the moment but if you live close by you should check it out. Entry is free.

I had the chance to visit the Tokyo exhibition and all the pictures were stunning. Haseo usually builds all the sets for his photoshoots himself and has very close attention to detail. When he uses flowers for photo shootings all are always fresh and he even made his own swamp in his studio in Nagoya that he uses for photo shootings. Here are some pictures from the exhibition.

If you want to see more, you can check out the Instagram of Haseo.

If you would like to become a part of his art or have him take your wedding photos you can book a variety of photo plans on his website, but as you can imagine from the work that goes into such photos they are not on the cheap side.

Yami no Ou “King of Darkness” – Exhibition

This is a joined Exhibition of several photographers that will be held on August 28 and 29 in Yokohama at studio Olive. It is organized by Pasha Style, a group of Japan-based photographers that organize a website and a magazine specialized in portrait photography. They also do seminars and photo shooting events. On their website you can look at a lot of great work from photographers from all over Japan, that is carefully selected from a large number of submissions they receive every day. A few pictures where I modelled can be viewed as well, in case you are interested.

This exhibition is unfortunately not free. It costs 2.200 Yen but you will get a booklet with all the photos on display together with your ticket. In this exhibition, you can enjoy photography that is more on the dark side. Most of the works you will be able to see there are not yet published but from what I have seen so far it should turn out to be a great exhibition. The location looked very nice as well judging from the photos on their website. Tickets can be purchased through the online shop or at the door but then the price is slightly higher.

Due to the Corona measures, only 80 people can enter at the same time therefore all tickets have a time slot.

I hope you found some of my suggestions inspirational and maybe decide to visit one of the exhibitions. This kind of photography is not necessarily considered typical Japanese culture but is an interesting sub-culture to explore and once you start looking you will find a lot of great Japanese artists.

Are you into photography? What kind of pictures do you enjoy?