While a lot of the stuff I talk about in this blog falls in the manga / artbook basket, I also happen to be quite the fan of photobooks. I am not limited by subject: if the photography is good and the theme is strong, I am as likely to enjoy a collection of body paint portraits, as I am a photo reportage on a power plant. One of my favorite dōjin works is, in fact, a photobook.
I wanted for a while to get my hands on this photobook by Onoguchi Mao -- I had seen a few samples online, and it seemed to have that down-to-earth, yet artsy aura that I usually look for in street photography (I admit I'm not too big on fashion). Onoguchi herself is one of those interesting figures that sort of teeters in-between visibility and underground: she was a finalist in "Miss iD 2014", basically a competition for underground idols; yet, most of her existing work features her as a photographer and editor, including the here presented キカカキョ.
Dated 2014, and developed in collaboration with Ninifuni editor Ryohei Mitsugi, this full color, A5 photo collection clearly shows Onoguchi's excellent eye for color and composition. While the subjects might be idols, singers, underground models and similar, the center of attention is always on the image as a whole, its balance and its layout: this is not just a street snapshot collections, and certainly not a gravure work (all models are fully clothed at all times).
Onoguchi measures herself with both indoors and outdoors photography: while excellent in both fields, I think she particularly excels at capturing that fleeting, 'private moment' essence that the former provides. Still, her outdoor work is just as excellent, often playing with depth of field and out-of-focus in order to give her photographs stunning depth. The collection as a whole has sort of a slightly... retro feel to it, I guess: at times it looks more like an early 2000s production, than one born well into the 2010s. It reminds me of the JP magazines I used to save scraps from when I was in college.
Overall, an excellent photobook, and pretty much all you can get when it comes to Onoguchi's work: she has done editorial and commercial work in the mid 2010s up to 2016 circa, but now seems to have completely disappeared from the scene; no social media to speak of either. All we get is a couple Google hits and an empty Wix domain. Which is fine: sometimes, entirely dropping off the scene only adds to the mistique. I wish her well, wherever she is.
EDIT: crazy enough, there is actually an English language article available about this book's release. Whoa.
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