A simple collection of some of the portrait shots I took while on the streets of Japan. Some are "faceless" – occasionally my favourite kind. The last image was particularly interesting for me. I shot it on a bridge over Kamakura (a city about an hour outside of Tokyo). Initially, I barely noticed as we walked past a group of teenagers leaning over the edge of the bridge. However, as I turned back to see what they were doing, I realised that these otherwise normal adolescents were blowing bubbles and watching them float away. It was such a startlingly simple scene, it almost didn’t register.

Then it occurred to me that in the UK (where I am from), such a scene would almost certainly mean these kids would instead be spitting off the edge, throwing trash or beer cans or just smoking… It’d be hard to imagine anything else. Certainly not this. I always thought that the idea of teenagers spending an afternoon like that had been long lost to the passage of time.. Even if it was a one off, it was a pretty cool throwback.

Geisha in Asakusa, Tokyo
(Canon G9)

Young couple in Kamakura
(Canon 1D Mk III + 85mm /f1.8)

Tattooed man in Shibuya, Tokyo
(Canon 1D Mk III + 24mm /f1.4)

Akuri in Enoshima
(Canon 1D Mk III + 24mm /f1.4)

My friend’s 1 yo daughter, Naka-meguro, Tokyo
(Canon 1D Mk III + 24mm /f1.4)

Akuri in Asakusa, Tokyo
(Hasselblad 500 C/M)

Young boy in Kamakura
(Canon 1D Mk III + 85mm /f1.8)

Teenagers in Kamakura
(Canon 1D Mk III + 85mm /f1.8)