I was fortunate to visit Japan in Mar 2018 during the sakura bloom season which is one of the main events in the year for many Japanese people. It is enough to mention that everyday one can see the map of Japan on TV where a presenter shows where and when Sakura is going to bloom next, many people would also have an app in their phone to get regular updates.
As I said, this is a special time in Japan which also coincides with the graduation time for many young people. Traditionally, many female graduates wear simple kimonos and take photos with the cherry trees so you can see a lot of activity in the parks where each blooming tree is surrounded with many Japanese people taking pictures.
When I traveled to Japan, I wanted to capture the life around me in many different aspects, not just focusing on Sakura. In Japan, you can find a lot of vivid colours, night lights and interesting people – all of that I wanted to show in my photographs. For me, Japan is a country in bloom as a whole and not just it’s gardens.
About Dmitry Stepanenko
Born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1987, Dmitry started doing street photography after moving to the UK in 2010 and it quickly became his primary interest. In 2013 he became one of the founding members of an international street photography collective called The Street Collective.
Dmitry’s first personal exhibition was held at the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine in 2017. Apart from that, Dmitry took part in several group exhibitions in Russia, Europe and the US and was published in various photographic magazines. In 2017 his first book “Heavy Colour” was published in the UK. Dmitry is a co-founder and Creative Director at the London Street Photography Festival.
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Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted Dmitry Stepanenko. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.
