Tamayura: More Aggressive – Photographing your Emotions

I like taking pictures, but I like looking at other people’s pictures too.
Pictures that are different from mine.
It makes me wonder how they were shot, and why they choose the area that they did.
I think it’d be nice to have someone to take pictures and talk about them with.
That’s why I started the Photography Club
~Sawatari Fuu

Human feelings can be discerned through various ways – directly or even indirectly. Directly telling your feelings is one way obviously, but when done correctly, it is even possible to transmit your feelings through ambiguous means. One, if observant enough, can discover a person’s current emotions just by studying his or her actions and behaviors. Using romance shows as an analogy, some canon couples in shows never even confessed once, but they, the characters, and we, the viewers all knew that both of them are meant to be together – it’s an unchangeable fact. The prospect of conveying one’s emotions directly or indirectly comes to play.

Conveying emotions through art, music and other creative means had always been one of the most interesting and colorful ways of expressing oneself. It does takes skill but when pulled off, it delivers emotions as powerful as, or even more powerful than pure simple words. In Tamyura, taking photographs is Kanae and Fuu’s method of intangible communication. One can clearly immerse into the photographer’s moods by studying how the photos were taken, and how the photos came out.

In terms of personalities, Fuu, although polite, is more straightforward and adventurous. She isn’t afraid of approaching close to the subject to take the photo, she sometimes even kneels and crawls. In contrast, Kanae is more shy and reserved, all her photos were taken with a lot of consideration. She uses the zoom function quite frequently since her soft-spoken nature makes it difficult for her for close-up views. Due to their contrasting natures, Fuu seems like she will be superior in portraits photography while Kanae will be better in still life.

In photographing, various techniques can be employed. Lighting, color, flashes, angle, focus, composition – all are incredibly handy storytellers. For example, when expressing sadness, you would want to keep the lighting dark, to express happiness, you would want the opposite instead. Colors may be a more interesting element of expression. Red for example, indicates anger, but it can also mean romance. Blue or green creates a tranquil ambiance, easily achievable by taking photos of nature. Blurring helped too. By blurring parts of the image, the areas not blurred creates a focus, and helps reinforce your story. In some case however, even the blurring itself foretold something.

You can also mix around the colors and lighting for interesting effects. For example, clashing light and dark colors depict a gloomy yet hopeful atmosphere – most common examples would be photos of sunsets and shadows looming over. Combining that example with various other techniques like angle, focus or composition, a piece of simple picture is equal to a thousand words.

In Tamayura, most of the photos, especially ones taken by Fuu transmit a feeling of happiness. The photo Kanae took that won the competition does deserve the credit. The expression on the subject was extremely good, paired up with the orange glows in the background, it gives off a feeling of anxiety and hope at the same time. The blurry picture Fuu’s father took on purpose expresses a playful disposition – motivating Fuu and the rest to go on a “treasure hunt” to find their sakura trees using the blurry picture as their only lead.

Ambiguous expressions are empowering – expressing a stronger emotions than spoken words. Human emotions can be so wild, creative and abstract! Expressing oneself can never be so fun and colorful. Let’s get aggressive and start expressing!