MikiNobu Komatsu Photography

Preface   

I was born and raised in Japan, however I lived in New York for three years during primary school, which changed my life. Exposure to another culture had a profound effect on me. After graduating from university in Tokyo I left Japan to live in Australia. Although I visited Japan from time to time, after 40 years in Australia I decided to spend some time traveling extensively through Japan.

It was good for me revisiting my old nest. It took a while for the photographer part of my soul to react to the scenery around me but gradually I reconnected with my Japanese roots. My photographic eye had become hungry to feed my heart with nostalgic Japanese landscape that is ingrained in every Japanese person's psyche. Although my eye might have become that of an expat, having been away for so long, my heart responded more and more to the Japanese scenery with a deep feeling of nostalgia.

My emotional response to the scene is what I captured in my photographs, and what became the haiku I composed to accompany every image.

Haiku is a style of poetry that goes back to the 17th century Japan, particularly known through the work of Basho who travelled around Japan composing haiku. 

Haiku is now widely enjoyed in different languages by many people all over the world.

This book is a very personal and emotional photographic journey for me. I hope these photographs and haiku will stir your heart.

MikiNobu Komatsu