A visual essay by Carla Step
Unexpected Japan
A vision by Carla Step
Japan is a place you think you already know before you've been there. There are endless references to Japanese culture and its landscapes in Western society. That's why, as soon as you get there, you're anxious to find all those images you've created in your mind. But what this journey has taught me is that it is impossible to really understand Japan without deconstructing and letting go of every single stereotype. I travelled alone for ten days around Japan, visiting cities like Kyoto, Naoshima and Tokyo and I wasn't inspired by any of the places recommended by my tour guide. I had to stop scheduling to start enjoying the simplest and most unexpected situations. And that's how all these images came to life. None of them have been planned.
Photography and words by Carla Step
Edited by Bis Turnor & Simone Rossi
Traveller/s
Carla Step
Photographer
Carla is a visual artist who lives and works in Barcelona. She attended the degree in Graphic Design at Escola Massana and the specialization course in architecture and interior photography at the IEFC, although her greatest learning has always been through experimentation and self-discovery. Specialized in fashion photography, travel and portraits, her images always speak the same warm and intimate language: marked lines, washed colors and instants full of simplicity; her work is imbued with an atmosphere that takes us to unusual places and moments of reflection. An organic style in which there is no place for great artifices, but only the precise moment in which space, body and light merge.
@ carlastep
