December 2024

These photos were taken with Ren in December 2024.

At that time, I was on leave from my day job, which meant I had much more time to focus on photography than I do now. Once a week, we would meet at the studio in the morning and continue shooting until around 8 p.m. Spending entire days working together allowed us to develop a very different way of creating images.

Looking back, I think the work I made with Ren during that period was quite different from my earlier photography. Rather than planning it, that style emerged naturally through the time we spent shooting together.

Because it felt so distinct from my existing work, I decided to separate it from Roca and start a new series. That series became mammal.

The name itself doesn't have any deep or specific meaning. But when I think back on those days, I remember feeling that our shoots were driven by something very instinctive and physical. Perhaps that's why mammal felt like the right name.

Over time, the style that Ren and I developed gradually blended with my original way of photographing. These days, I don't really think of them as separate anymore—they've naturally become part of the same body of work.