Photographers Name: Mika Ninagawa Date of Artists Life: October 18th, 1972-present year(2016)
Important Life Events
Some important life events include in 2007 she directed the film “SAKURAN” and presented at the 57th Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin and the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival. Another would include in 2012 she directed the film “Helter Skelter” and awarded the Kaneto Shindo award.
Style
Mika Ninagawa’s photography possesses the visual art of pop. Her photos are not just “regular photos”. When she’s asked about this, her response is "The moment I feel like a plant, or like a bug alighting on a flower, I release the shutter. When I'm not in this heightened state, I may shoot a beautiful flower beautifully, but that is all. For me, the process of photographing a flower is something more, something that goes beyond the flower. When I'm photographing well, I am always floating on another plane, a place between this world and the world beyond." Her style is more so pop as well because of the amount of color that is in her photos, as well as what she takes photos of. There is a lot background noise is most of her photos, but it’s made to fit in with her main focal point.
Philosophy
I believe that in Mika Ninagawa’s photos, her main message is to be different. I say this because of the way her photos are taken, as well as what they’re about. I think that her other message would be that (based on her last statement) to tell a story with your photos, and feel connected with the photographs that you’re taking, because if you aren’t your photographs are practically pointless. She’s saying to be involved. Her other message would also be to take pictures of something that you enjoy, or that you find pleasurable because if you’re taking photos of something you aren’t then it shows in your work.
Influences
The main reason that I chose Mika Ninagawa is because of how eye catching her work is. Her photographs intrigue me mainly because of how colorful they are, and as well as how much background noise there is. The background noise is an addition to how the main photo looks. Her work is influencing because of how different they are and stunning they are compared to other photographers work. Mika Ninagawa’s photographs keep you wanting more as well as wanting to know what the story is behind it.
Comparing/Contrasting: Comparing the two photos, my photographs are somewhat similar to Ninagawa’s. The similarities (obviously) would be the objects. I feel as if I did a pretty terrible job as to getting photos as similar to hers as I could. Obvious factors would be that for the photo of the fireworks it is not blurred enough, for the strawberry it is not as pale, and for the flower it is not as focused as well as it is not the same type of flower. For the strawberry, I'm not sure if ethers was bleached or something, put the red pigmentation is gone (as you can see) and I wasn't able to get the same type of look.
Personal Artist Statement
The story that my photos represent is a story of what I would say a summer’s day. I would say this because in summer you eat fruits, you go out on the fourth of July and see fireworks, and also summer is when most flowers bloom. The elements I used are leading lines (for the strawberry) and balancing elements. (I wasn't able to get the photos side by side, due to the fact that if I make my image any smaller, the photo converts back to its original, rather than the edited one).