Famous+Photographer

Famous Photographer

Rinko Kawauchi

Rinko Kawauchi was born in Shiga, Japan, in 1972. She majored graphic design at Seian University of Art and Design, and graduated in 1993. She was inspired by a photography class during her studies in university. She started to work as a commercial photographer in 1997. "Utatane", "Hanabi", and "Hanako" are the three significant books Rinko Kauwauchi released at the same time from Little More publishing company in 2001. Later on, she then published the well known "Aila" in 2004, "The eyes, the ears" and "Cui Cui" in 2005, and "Semear" in 2007 all from Foil publishing company. Rinko Kawauchi also held many solo and group exhibitions. Some of them were held in Japan, and most of them were held overseas after 2002. Now she continues to work on book covers for other writers and still photograph for movie.
 * __1. Historical Background__ **

Once Rinko Kawauchi's photo book "Utatane", "Hanabi", and "Hanako" were published in 2001, it was described as "an overnight sensation in the photography world in Japan". Even though Rinko Kawauchi is still young as a photographer, she lively captures moments that people tend to ignore or take granted of, which sensitizes the viewer's mind.
 * __2. Influence__ **

Rinko Kawauchi is described as having a poetic style. She captures ordinary moments that people usually ignore. Texture and light are major components that make up her work. Bright and whitish flash of light is often found in her photos. She also dislikes trimming photos, that is why she decides to work with 6 x 6 square format of camera. However, she sees editing photo a very important stage as well as composing a photo.
 * __3. Style and Major Genre__ **


 * __4. Representative works__ **

Untitled (Series "Aila", 2004) © Rinko Kawauchi Note: Rinko Kawauchi uses simple and single point in the photo. In the series of "Aila", Rinko Kawauchi wants to capture the essence of life from birth to death. This is a photo that clearly illustrates her objective for the series, by capturing the moment when an egg hatches. The focus is placed slightly off-centre and the light comes from lower left hand side, and focuses onto the object without having too much glare.

Untitled (Series "Aila", 2004) © Rinko Kawauchi Note: Diagonals and depth of field are both used in the photo. Camera is focused onto the closer chicken head, and the other two chicken head in line are further away and unfocused. The diagonal lines are of the table where the chicken heads hang from. This photo is also from the series of "Aila", which captures scenes from birth to death. This photo shows death of chicken, which we normally wouldn't notice and observe. The light is indoor light from above of the table.

Untitled (Series "Cui Cui", 2005) © Rinko Kawauchi Note: Depth is used in the photo to blur our the background and focuses on the watermelon and seeds. Triangles can be found in the photo where the seeds are positioned, and the shape of the watermelon is triangle shaped as well. "Cui Cui" is basically Rinko Kawauchi's family album. She spent over 12 years to take the pictures for this series. The objective of the series is to reveal fragility of life through moments of happiness and sadness. This photo is a scene of happiness a viewer would see in everyday life and that is what the photographer wants to present. The light is soft and seems to have a blue, cold hue to it, and is coming from the right hand side.

Untitled (Series "The eyes, the ears", 2005) © Rinko Kawauchi Note: Balance and rule of third are both used in the photo. The child and his/her reflection creates a sense of balance, and the main object in the photo- the child is positioned above one-third portion of the photo. In the series "The eyes, the ears", Rinko Kawauchi manipulated the scene by using lens flare to make the photo look dreamy and soft. Rinko Kawauchi plays with the light in brilliant ways, and it often results in fabulous outcome. The light mainly comes from the natural strong sunlight from outside the window, which makes the photo bright and white.

Untitled (Series "Illuminance", 2011) © Rinko Kawauchi Note: Rule of third and simple and single point are used in this photo. The diamond is placed at the lower one-third portion of the photo. There is no other object other than the diamond and the reflection. Rinko Kawauchi is indeed proficient at creating fantastical image and playing with the light. The diamond is placed on a dark background, and the light seems to be coming from the lower right hand side. The light is projected onto the diamond, and the reflections create a dreamy feeling to the picture.

Background 20/20

Influences 5/5

Style/Genre 5/5

5 Photos and Description 25/25

Total 55/55