Photography found me before I fully understood what I was looking for. That was a long time ago, and I am still not entirely sure I have found it, which is probably why I keep going.

I grew up in India and have lived in Tokyo for more than 25 years. Most of what I photograph comes out of this city and the people I have met here: portraits in the studio, dancers on stages, faces on the street, and whatever stops me when I travel. I also work on conceptual shoots and fine art nudes. Across all of it I am looking for the same things: shape, balance, stillness, tension, and the way light settles on a face or a shoulder for a moment and then moves on.

I am self-taught and still learning. Some of what I know came from books and practice, but most of it came from the people in front of my camera. In Hazy Hues, the dancer moved through coloured smoke in a dark studio, and for most of that session my job was to wait for the smoke and the movement to line up, and not to get in the way when they did.

I direct, of course. But the best sessions I have had were the ones where I talked less and listened more, and where the other person stopped thinking about the camera… and simply enjoyed being there. Many of the people I have photographed have become friends. A few I keep going back to, because over time we built a shared language, and every shoot starts a little further along than the last one.

Photography is where I started, but it is no longer the only thing I make. I moved into film with a lot of curiosity and very little knowledge, and in September I worked on a short film C’est la vie, a set of stories from different homes in one building.

If you are a dancer, a model, an actor, or someone with an idea you want to turn into pictures, write to me.

If you are considering a fine art or nude collaboration, please read the “Working with me” section below first.

Ani