‘Focus’ shines a light on creators, artworks, and trends. We feature creators who share outstanding photographs, introducing them alongside their work. Discovering shared sensibilities can spark new creative inspiration. This edition’s theme is “Rules Hidden in Everyday Life”.
The Rules Hidden in the Ordinary
A story reminiscent of a science class.
Isaac Newton, upon witnessing an apple fall in his garden, discovered the law of universal gravitation. He recognized the existence of gravity and revealed that every object with mass is subject to this force.
Why do fallen leaves always drift from top to bottom?
Why does everyone stop simultaneously when the traffic light turns red?
The scenes we encounter daily are not mere coincidences; rather, they are interwoven with underlying order and rules. Even the most trivial events and objects in our everyday lives quietly embody this sense of order.
This time, we are highlighting creators who have captured scenes that seem to reveal the hidden rules of daily life.
The Rule of Ume Plums: Three Days and Nights of Drying
Image by sora.KagiAke
Q. What do you focus on during your creative process or when photographing?
I try not to overthink and value the moment itself. I aim to capture things as naturally as possible.
sora.KagiAke
Currently, I shoot exclusively with a smartphone and have no previous awards or accolades. (The recent contest on cizucu was my first!) I have loved photography since childhood, using film and digital cameras. I began photographing my children’s daily lives and the sky about 12 years ago. In recent years, I’ve been sharing my photos on Instagram Stories.
cizucu: sora.KagiAke
Instagram: @atelier_sora_ya
Fascinated by the Natural Forms Hidden in Skeletal Physalis
Image by カラーリーフクラフト
Q. What do you focus on during your creative process or when photographing?
Whenever I find something interesting or beautiful in my daily life—like the sky, my cat, or plants—I instinctively press the shutter. I’m also drawn to intriguing forms. I particularly love light and shadow, and I’m delighted when I can capture their fleeting changes. I enjoy macro photography for its ability to reveal perspectives different from what we usually see. While I simply enjoy shooting for myself, I also want to convey how fascinating and beautiful the everyday world appears through my eyes, since everyone sees things differently. My main equipment includes the iPhone 12 mini and Canon EOS M6; for the moon and similar subjects, the Canon PowerShot SX720’s optical zoom is useful, and for macro work, I use the OLYMPUS Tough TG-6 with its microscope mode.
カラーリーフクラフト
I have been interested in photography since childhood, capturing familiar subjects with compact cameras. As mobile phones and digital cameras made photography more accessible, I found joy in documenting everyday moments. As a freelance designer, I use my own photographs as materials and contribute them as stock images.
cizucu: @colorleaf_craft
Instagram: @colorleaf_craft
The Rule of Narrative in the Relationship Between Two Images
Image by miho
Q. What do you focus on during your creative process or when photographing?
I tend to photograph people close to me or things I find on the ground. If I get too caught up in theory, it becomes suffocating and I lose the desire to shoot, so I take a lot of photos but probably share less than 10% of them. I like insects, the sky, and aquariums. My favorite camera is the OLYMPUS PEN EE.
miho
My father owned a film camera, so there were always cameras lying around the house when I was a child, and I would play with them for fun. After starting my part-time job, I bought my own camera and began shooting occasionally.
cizucu: miho
What did you think? The freedom of creation and the rules of creation are not necessarily opposing concepts; rather, their meaning shifts depending on the context, and they can be seen as closely related ideas. By becoming aware of established rules—whether in nature or society—we may sometimes find the inspiration to leap into a world of creative freedom. There is freedom within rules, and rules within freedom.
