Interview with Mayumi Yoshimaru
Mayumi was born in Fukuoka, Japan, and moved to New York City in 1995. She graduated from Hunter College (CUNY) in 2003, with a BA degree in Studio Art and Psychology, where she studied photography under the legendary Roy DeCarava. Inspired by DeCarava, Mayumi decided to make photography her career.
As a photographer, Mayumi is very versatile. A skilled documenter, she is sought after for model portfolios, portraiture, as well as for parties and weddings. She also specializes in fine art nude, glamour, and pornography. She is skilled at retouching for both print and website advertising.
Mayumi’s work is exhibited at galleries in New York and Tokyo and in print advertisements for DeMask, the fetish apparel store. She will appear in Rogues, Rebels, and Renegades: The Art of an Outlaw, a documentary film about erotic artists directed by Hilton Ariel Ruiz, scheduled for release in 2009. She has also worked as a model for various fetish websites and photographers’ books, including Dragon Ladies & China Dolls (2007), by LC Misfit Studios.
The art of the self-portrait has always been of interest to Mayumi: “I have two purposes in shooting self-portrait. One purpose is as a technical experiment when a model is not available. (I like myself as a model very much because I am always available and always very reliable!) The main purpose and goal of my self-portrait is to record myself like a diary – to depict the particular day of my emotion by photographing myself. Also I keep recording my nude body to see how I change, as I get older. My ongoing self-portrait series is my way of recording my personal physical and emotional history.”
More of her work:
Q: You studied under American master Roy DeCarava, but you lived in Japan until 1995. Were you influenced or inspired by any of the Japanese masters of photography (e.g. Shinoyama, Moryama, Araki, Hosoe) before you came to the US, and how did working with DeCarava change your approach to photography?
One of the Japanese photographers I was inspired was Araki. In the 80’s, as a teenager, I was thrilled to see his documentary work on the sex industry. I think I was too young to see his work as art, but it stimulated my curiosity. Later, I saw more of his work, and I found the importance of taking images as they are. I had an interest in the journalistic style.
When I saw the work of Roy DeCarava for the first time, I got tears in my eyes. It was the first time experience that just seeing photos made me cry. His work was relatively darker, so I had to see longer. The longer I looked at an image, the more images emerged. This was stunning to me.
Working with DeCarava made me “detail oriented”. Whenever I asked his advice on my work, he paid attention to every detail in the image, pointed out any interesting detail, told me where to burn and dodge, and suggested a filter number. He often encouraged me to show more detail and to reduce contrast. As a result, I change the way of seeing my own work, as well as others.
Q: How important is looking at other artists' work? How often do you get out to see work; do you look at photography only, or other kinds of art?
In order to train my senses, it is important to see other artists’ work. I used to go to galleries and museums at least once a week although I get out seeing art work once a month nowadays. Not only photography, but also I do check all kinds of art. When I see others’ photography, I focus on two things. One is “how I feel about it”, and the other one is technical matter such as composition, color, lighting, contrast, etc. I think if I don’t see other artists’ work and just seeing own work, I’ll lose my sense!
Q: How important is nudity itself in your images, and why?
(I classify nudity in my photography in 3 categories: fine art, glamour, and pornography. There are fine lines among these, but here I’ll talk about fine art image of nudity, which is unlikely to make a viewer sexually aroused.)
To me, nude photography is about studying the person (subject). There are two reasons why I like nudity in my image. One is to see one’s hidden image that has not been shown in public. With clothes you can hide who you are, and even pretend to be someone else. When you are completely naked in front of a camera, you have to deal with who you are. (Be naked in front of a camera, and you’ll see how you feel!) You don’t act the same as when you are in clothes. Your hidden image emerges. The second reason is to “freeze one’s history” in an image. In nude photography, you don’t see the subject’s occupation, social status, or sexual orientation. What I can see is the subject’s history of body. Everyone has something like scars, tan, cellulite, stretch marks, freckles or bruises. Also you can see which muscles are used a lot or not at all. Personal history is written on a body. It is the very intriguing process to analyze a naked person through a camera.
Q: What differences do you see in the way the nude is represented or regarded in the US, compared to Japan?
(I’m often asked this question!) The biggest difference between Japan and the U.S. in terms of the nude photography is that the genital area of both sexes can’t be shown in Japan. The genitals must be hidden by posing or props, otherwise cropped. In pornography, the area has to be covered by digital mosaic. I still don’t understand why. On the other hand, you can easily find nude photos (without genitals) in a regular magazines and comics at a convenience store in Japan. Weird!
Q: Is anyone else in your family artistic? Where does your inspiration to be an artist come from?
My father is an advanced amateur photographer who specializes in landscape. He also has extensive artistic hobbies including sculpture, pottery, and calligraphy. My mother loves arts and crafts. She studied Japanese flower arrangement which requires years of practice. Since my early age, I have been surrounded by things created by my parents and learned how to create. My parents may be my inspiration to create art, but they never encouraged me to be an artist.
Q: Members of Helmut Newton's family referred to him as 'Dirty Helmy.' Do you have family members who disapprove of your work? If so, how do you deal with it?
No, I don’t have. They are in Japan, and they don’t know about my R and X rated works. I’m sure they don’t get it, but they don’t care.
Q: Your self-portrait work is concerned with emotions and your college studies included psychology. How do you go about conveying emotion in a still image? It seems to be about more than facial expressions.
Humans expresses their emotions not only with their faces but also with every single part of body. In order to convey emotion in a still image, I use many different techniques. I often depict movement using slow shutter speed. Movement sends a message like body language. For example, saying “NO” and shaking head make horizontal motion blur on hair and a steady torso in the still image. How I said “NO” can be seen by the positions of limbs and fingers. Besides movement and poses/gestures, emotion can be represented by color, focus area, lighting, contrast and background shadow. After all, to see emotions in a still image requires a viewer’s imagination.
Q: What technical challenges does your approach entail?
I believe that photography is all about lighting. No matter what or who the subject is, the representation of the image depends on lighting. Lighting affects the person’s facial expression, emotion, and even age. To read and set up lighting fast and effectively is the ongoing challenge of my photography.
Q: What are you most satisfied with regarding your work?
I’ve never been 100% satisfied with my work. If I can ever say one piece of my work is “perfect,” I’ll be done with photography.