ルパート シングルトン
出身：リーズ、イングランド
日本滞在：１カ年
職業：写真家、グラフィックデザイナー
ルパートシングルトンは、グラフィックデザイナーとしてシンガポールに住んでいたが、ニューヨークタイムズとの仕事がきっかけで写真家としての道を進むことに切り替えた。
以前より日本に関心があったルパートは、昨年アートマンジャパンという日本にインスパイアされた外国人アーティストを採用する会社に入社し、福岡に移住してきた。今では自分で売り込みも撮影も行っている。外国人としての視点と独自の構成が特徴のルパート、日本でも”彼のやり方”で撮影し稼いでいきたいのだと言う。現在は、福岡近郊の自然を題材にしたシリーズ撮影に情熱を注いでいる彼は、オンラインでのファンつくりにも余念がない。SNSでもルパートが撮影した写真の人気は高まってきており、日本の写真を集めたサイトで発表した桜の写真は5,000もの「いいね！」を獲得したという。彼の視点と審美で撮影された写真をあなたも実際に確かめてみて。ルパートのwebサイト (http://photograph-r.photoshelter.com/)
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Interviewed on Nov. 14, 2014.
You’ve lived in Fukuoka for a year now. Where were you before?
Singapore, for a long time, maybe too long! About 20 years I think. I was doing graphic design for the first 10 years, and then I switched to photography. As a graphic designer I was an art director and would direct the photographers. I used to do shoots and get a bit frustrated because I thought I could do a better job than them so I started migrating towards photography.
How did you end up in Singapore doing graphic design?
Actually I kind of escaped a psychotic girlfriend, though she followed me unfortunately! I thought the other side of the world was a good escape route, and Singapore seemed quite exotic. I was offered a job in Singapore in 1991, at a small graphic design consultancy in a very interesting area of Singapore, Little India. While we were in the studio designing, they’d be grinding turmeric next door. One thing followed another and I became full time for a few years, but then I switched to freelance and set-up my own company which in Singapore is a very easy thing to do. That was in 1998.
So you’re in Japan now, how did that come about?
I’ve always liked Japan, in fact I wanted to come here twenty years ago instead of Singapore but it didn’t quite work that way. I came to Tokyo I think in 2000 to celebrate my birthday, which was my first taste of Japan. Then I came back nine years later and met up with a Japanese friend who I’d met in Singapore. I emailed her in 2012 and said that I fancied working on an organic farm in Japan, and she invited me to work in a guesthouse where she was currently staying. So that’s what I did for a while. I was going to go for a month but ended up staying for two and a half months, eventually leaving because the visa was up. My last day in Japan I stayed in Fukuoka just overnight, and I remember thinking that this is a really interesting city, and I loved Aso and all the Kyushu people. I kind of found people friendlier here than up in Tokyo. So, I liked the place and then after Aso I did some more work in Singapore and I was so bored I wanted a complete change so I enrolled to do two months Japanese language at Asahi Nihongo. Then I made friends with the school’s owner and they really liked my photography. I told him that I really wanted to stay in Fukuoka and he had the idea of setting up a company (Artman Japan) to employ foreign creatives to use their talents to export Japanese products abroad. After this I got a visa which was back in May now, and since then I’ve just been promoting myself. Actually there was a lady who I met at an Artman Japan Christmas party, where we did a present exchange. I gave this lady’s daughter one of my photos and she loved it, and her mother was into the arts, so she checked out my website and loved the high quality of my work and wanted to help me succeed in Fukuoka. She’s become my PR person, and still is, which is great but obviously the language is a problem. She could hardly speak any English but since then she’s been learning English, and I’ve been learning Japanese.
I think the main difficulty is the language barrier for getting work. Although maybe not so much a language barrier as a cultural barrier, ‘cos it seems to be a different way of business here. Lots of meetings, long meetings [laughs].
Talking of life in Fukuoka, what’s your daily routine?
I’m a cyclist so it’s great living in Fukuoka because you can cycle everywhere. I can get on top of a mountain within an hour! But otherwise I’m not in full time employment now so it’s not really a salaryman lifestyle [laughs]. Although I am a morning person, I get up maybe at five or six, I like silence so it’s a nice time of day. Also every morning I learn Japanese for an hour or so from the many textbooks I’ve got. And I love food, especially Japanese food, I cook it every day!
So, your background is as a professional graphic designer and then also a photographer, and now you’re restarting your business and career here in Fukuoka. What’s your focus going to be?
My main aim is photography, but I’ve been offered graphic design work. I’ve just completed one identity project for a makeup artist. But my first love is photography I would say. In Singapore I specialised in studio portraits, food photography architecture, but also with the New York Times assignment I really enjoyed the reportage which links to the personal photography I shoot. Some professional photographers do their commercial assignments but don’t take any other photos but I photograph everything, I have a camera on me 24 hours a day! Currently I’m working on a book to compile my personal work which is taking a while but will eventually be a self-published book, hopefully it will be finished early next year anyway. Actually, an interesting job just came in. It’s four page exposé or feature of my work on Fukuoka prefecture for a magazine.
Why do you think Japanese magazines are interested in your photos?
Well a lot of people say I shoot Japan in a very different way to how a Japanese person sees it, or how a Japanese photographer photographs it. So they find that interesting. I would love to make a living that involved specialising in shooting Japan my way. I think because I’ve been here over a year now I’ve got a more in-depth understanding and knowledge of Japan. This year my one aim was to take the best shot of cherry blossoms. On the 2nd of April everything was perfect, there was no wind and the skies were blue so I went to my favourite tree. The photo I took got over 5,000 ‘likes’ on a Tokyo photography page I uploaded it to. But everyone who ‘liked’ this photo was Japanese (laughs). I put this on National Geographic and it got no interest, so I think the cherry blossoms touch the hearts of the Japanese much more than foreigners!
Despite the language barrier in Japan, the one thing about photography is that a good photo can transcend: it “speaks” any language, to anyone.
In fact I have a kind of ongoing photography series linked to nature. Through the seasons I’ve photographed this one cherry blossom tree in Maizuru Koen, which is tagged “number 31”. All the important trees in the park are numbered. I’m going to make a kind of mini book about that because I’ve shot lots of this one tree. I’m also influenced by the weather. So if it’s one of those beautiful blue sky days, I can’t be inside, so I go out and take photos. Like recently I went to Dazaifu and Sasaguri – all by bicycle. Cycling along you observe the world around you more intimately compared to travelling by bus or train – and many of my personal shots are discovered this way.
Is there anything unique about doing photography in Japan?
The quality of the light. Also, most of my work is all about colour, and colours in Japan are unique to Japan, a totally different colour palette to where I grew up in Yorkshire and where I lived in Singapore. Actually in Singapore everyday is exactly the same (laughs). Very green, very humid. In Singapore everything grows very, very fast so I have a few series of photos on the change of nature which I think’s obviously influenced my shooting of the cherry blossom tree.
Where can people see your work?
I have a website (www.photograph-r.com) which is the best way of finding me – that and Facebook which seems to be popular these days. I want to have a solo exhibition in Fukuoka, if I can find the right place. I was introduced to the Japan Realist Photographer’s Association – JRP, and they liked my work so they asked me to join their exhibition in Fukuoka Art Museum.
What do you think about the increasing popularity of photography? People using smart phones and inexpensive compact cameras to take pictures anytime and anyplace? As a professional photographer what are your thoughts on this?
I have mixed feelings about Instagram. I’ve actually never taken a photo with a smart phone. Sometimes I observe people doing all the selfie shots, and yeah I’m not sure about all that. It’s almost oversaturated. Though I guess people enjoy my work often as a result of this interest in photography. But in terms of getting work there’s also a downside. There are a lot of amateur photographers getting work for such a low price and this obviously affects what professionals can earn. In Singapore the day rate for photography was really high, reminiscent of the bubble era in Tokyo. On the other hand, professional photographers that I’ve met here get paid much less. Fortunately the cost of living in Fukuoka is much lower and that’s one thing I really like about Fukuoka.
You mentioned earlier lots of likes on social networking sites, are you happy when people like your photos?
Oh yeah it’s great but I wish there was a penny for every like! So I can make a living taking beautiful photos of Japan.
Originally published in Fukuoka Now (fn192, Dec. 2014)
More photos by Rupert (access his website: http://photograph-r.photoshelter.com/):
Gingko leaves in the midday sun creating a translucent watercolour painting effect
Taketori House, Karatsu. From a production “Rainy Day Dream” shot in May 2014 involving 3 photographers, 3 models and 2 make-up artists
Food culture: Yatai street stall customer (shot on my first trip to Fukuoka 2012)
su す created from kyuori (cucumber)
