Interview with Architecture photographer Naoki Fujihara | MONOVISIONS

MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025

– How and when did you become interested in photography?

The cause of me becoming interested in photography was lots of beautiful landscape photographs all over the world. I started photography in 2016, but I had lots of chance to appreciate photography before 2016. I wanted to shoot landscapes and express the beauty of the landscapes.

– Is there any artist/photographer who inspired your art?

There are lots of photographers who inspired me. Especially, Joel Tjintjelaar and Julia Anna Gospodarou, both of them are fine art B&W top photographer, had a great influence on me. I encountered the photographs of Joel Tjintjelaar and Julia Anna Gospodarou in 2017, I was impressed by their artistic works. I learned how to shoot and post-processing from them, and I changed subjects from landscapes to architectures.

– Why do you work in black and white rather than colour?

There are two reasons that my photographs are black and white rather than color.
1. black and white photography can enhance the beauty and dynamism of architectures.
2. I think black and white photography has its distinctive atmosphere that color photography doesn’t have. Its distinctive atmosphere is suitable for what I want to express with photography.

– How much preparation do you put into taking a photograph/series of photographs?

When I create photographs, I usually take below procedures:
1. Make it clear that what I want to express
Most of my photographs express my values or my life experiences with architectures. Before I go out to shoot, I make it clear that what I want to express with photography. To make it clear, I usually draw images in my mind to express ideas in a real form.
2. Search architecture
I usually use Google Maps to search architectures that are suited for what I want to express. And I simulate positions of the sun to check lights direction to decide when I should shoot.
3. Shooting
I visit the place that I searched. And shoot architectures.
4. Post-processing
I retouch shooting data along my drawings. My post-processing work takes two weeks or a month.

– Where is your photography going? What projects would you like to accomplish?

My photographic philosophy is expressing my values or my life experiences with architectures, so I want to keep expressing them. I think I’ll have lots of various experiences in my life from now on. I want to express my feelings for photography to deeply understand myself.
On the other hand, I always think about the unique and interesting viewpoints of subjects and try to express them with photography. I want to keep challenging and proposing a unique and interesting viewpoint of subjects.

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