A new personal project from Sam.

"Over the past few years, I have developed a growing interest in Japanese culture. I discovered the paintings of Keita Morimoto, who portrays moments of urban life with cinematic flair. His work truly resonated with me, especially his dusk scenes, which I find particularly inspiring. They evoke the grade and use of light of Tod Hido and Gregory Crewdson, yet they focus more on everyday moments in cities like Tokyo. I appreciated how the stillness is often paired with a sense that something is about to occur.

I set out to create a series of images taken at twilight, the time when street and neon lights start to dominate the atmosphere. My aim was to capture people and urban scenes resembling moments from a film.

Recently, I showed some of these images to a friend from Tokyo. She remarked that they looked like they were shot in "Kiri." In Japanese, "Kiri" has multiple meanings, but one common interpretation is mist or fog. I liked this comparison, as it suggested that the imagery conveyed an ethereal and atmospheric quality. The misty, dream-like quality of "Kiri" aligns perfectly with the mood I wanted to evoke."

These portraits were photographed with real people in London and paired with digitally crafted AI backgrounds.