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October 27, 2006
Maki Kawakita, Photographer and Olympus Visionary, 10-27-06
Maki Kawakita covers as diverse a range of photography as the cultures—Japanese, American, and European—that have most influenced her. Fashion, editorial, advertising, portraiture, fine art and dance all provide areas for her expression and for her professional work, which has also included invitations as guest lecturer at art colleges in Philadelphia, New York City, and Tokyo. Assignments have ranged from fashion magazine covers to record label advertising to “mooks” (a mook is a combination of magazine and book that, for a recent edition of Gekkan, meant shooting entirely a 120-page pictorial feature of Haruna Yabuki, an actress well-known in Japan).
Ms. Kawakita was trained as a youngster in Kabuki-like Japanese dance and ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement). In the 1990s, she attended Shinjuku Art School in Tokyo, with an emphasis on drawing, painting and sculpture, then took a B.F.A. in Graphic Design at Tama Art University, also in Tokyo. She subsequently attended the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and finished her Master’s Degree in Photography in 2002 at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, by which time she was already being given professional assignments.
Ms. Kawakita was recently selected in 2006 by Commercial Photography as one of the best 100 Photographers of Japan. Additionally, she was awarded the 2003 APA (Advertising Photography Award) award and was a selected photographer for American Photo in its April/May 2002 issue of Spot Light Photographer.
Established by Olympus America Inc. in partnership with some of today’s most talented photographers, the Olympus Visionary program is dedicated to creating superb digital images with the help of Olympus’ digital cameras and lenses. Olympus Visionaries span all fields of photography and work in a diversity of styles and subject matter, but they are united in realizing their creative vision through digital photography. The Visionaries use Olympus digital cameras in their daily assignments and personal work; participate in speaking engagements and appearances; and provide Olympus with input into equipment development. The Visionaries include several Pulitzer Prize-winning and Magnum photographers, as well as internationally-renowned photographers from the United States, Brazil, Canada, Italy and Japan.
Posted by David Lemberg at October 27, 2006 12:49 PM Return to ARTSCAPE home page