by Yvette Depaepe
Published the 1^st of April 2024

'lovely dream'

Miharu shoots straight from her heart. Beside her lovely children portraits, she also created a fairy tale world of her own, using flowers and self raised snails. She strives constantly to improve her skills, is a humble lady with big dreams and a lot of hope, inspired by the talented photographers / friends on 1x.
Enjoy her story through this interview.

'Eri'

Let me first introduce myself.
I grew up in a city called Kobe, in Japan. It was a place full of greenery and nature. We were just the three of us: my father, mother, and me. I went to the elementary school and enjoyed a lot  music, singing, calligraphy, and Japanese dance.
After getting married and mom of three boys, I worked at an elementary school. Currently, I am still working at school, but I became also a member of the International Art Photography Association and the Japan Photography Association.
The International Art Photography Association held a group exhibition at the Tokyo Meguro Art Museum Civic Hall at the end of September 2023. In addition, I stayed in Orenburg for 10 days to attend an exhibition held at the Russian Orenburg Museum of Art and to have a photo session with Russian children from another organization that I knew from the past as a Japanese photographer in an international photo exhibition in India.

What does photography mean to me?
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that now, it's not just a hobby, but a way of living to me. I can say that nearly every moment I'm breathing  is accompanied by a photograph. I truly believe that what influenced me the most, is my work and life with children at school. By photographing them during the days spend with them, I can say both – the children and myself – were constantly growing. I love photographing children, because they will discover the goodness in themselves and their friends, respect themselves and their friends, and learn to value life itself. I was deeply moved by the magic photographs can express.

About my photographic style ...

Originally, I was simply recording the children's school life, a little as a documentary.  But their way of thinking, smiling from the bottom of their hearts, worrying and even eating, all that moved me. Together with took pictures of the sky and flowers and other things which were moving them. Even now, they prefer photographs that express their own feelings rather than portraits.
Then, when school was closed, I started creating flower art pieces to show them. I wanted to create something coming from a fairy tale world with flowers and snails that I was raising home.
I started taking pictures of my creations to make the children happy, to relax their minds and to immerse themselves in a fairy tale world. I wanted my images making them happy again when they had bad times or when they were sad. In my mind, fairy tales are always touching children. So rather than techniques, I am still focusing on expressing the world of fantasy.

This said, I really would like to acquire more technical skills to improve my work, because it becomes more difficult to express what you want to convey. Further efforts and more skills will be necessary in the future.

About my equipment.

I use a NIKON D850 with a 850mm NIKON lens. I use this camera and lens for most of my photography, whether portraying children or photographing flowers. I could lights, but I prefer to leave my works as natural as possible. Children's expressions have to be sincere and pure and the fairy tale world of flowers and snails have to be natural.

The things moving me mean everything to me.

I was deeply moved by the paintings and works of art I saw at the International Museum in the Netherlands and in Italy. Also, the Viennese music that my mother taught me when I was young, the paintings by Renoir and Monet that she loved, the many picture books she read to me, and the pictures of children at work and their smiles. All  those things had a huge impact on me.

My projects for the future.

If my dream were to come true, I would like to go to cities, villages and schools in Asian countries and portray children. I think it would be wonderful if I could convey their dreams, hope and thoughts through photographs. I also would like to create a photo book with my flowers and snails creations.

What does 1x mean to me?

Discovering 1x was was a kind of milestone to me. I have met many talented photographers and  my dreams became bigger. I also learned that there are many types of photography and that each artist has his own style, skills and dreams. I am very grateful for all that.

Thank you very much for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Miharu Watanabe

'Eri'

'girl'

'CHIHIRO'

'sweet poetry'

'autumn dream'

'fairy poetry'

'iridescent dream'

'CHIHIRO'

'Eri'

'eyes'

'Eri'

'Eri'

'girls'

'boys'

'gaze'

'terminal station'

'Portrait'

'portrait'

'Eri'

'spring poetry'