Rinko Kawauchi is a Japanese photographer whose work focuses on ordinary life, the delicacy of natural forms and the beauty of ordinary moments. Her work is often recognisable through the nostalgic haziness of her images, something achieved through lower contrasts in settings with intense natural lighting which creates a poetic sense of serenity.

Kawauchi acts as the observer in her photographs, shooting scenes as they play out naturally, establishing emotional authenticity, in turn strengthening the effect of the viewer’s own emotional response. Take this image of Kawauchi’s daughter, for example, as it shows a moment of her playing or exploring in the outdoors, in what appears to be a wooded area. This image in particular portrays a moment of pure childhood innocence, a nostalgic feeling that everyone can relate to in one way or another, whether it’s from their own childhood, or something they recognise in their own children, it’s the memories that stay with someone for their whole life. Compositionally, Kawauchi uses the rule of thirds and a shallow focus to centre her daughter within the image as the subject. Like with a lot of her work, this piece too has a very soft colour palette, namely using lighter blues and darker greens, a low contrast and an emphasis on the natural lighting, which brings out the feelings of nostalgia surrounding the photograph that Kawauchi is known for.

In my own work, I find that, much like in Kawauchi’s work, I dwell on the concept of nostalgia, preferring to shoot with warmer tones and with natural lighting. I want to develop a photoshoot more in the style of Kawauchi’s work, shooting in soft, intense natural lighting, and focusing on delicate natural structures as they are; purely observing.