Tokyo-based photographer Kathryn Bagley, known as kitsunekun, on taking ethereal photographs of every day Japan

unagi catches up with Kathryn Bagley, or better known online as kitsunekun, on taking ethereal photographs of every day Japan and how she is getting through the Covid-19 lockdown. Kathryn shoots both film and digital photographs capturing the beauty of everyday mundane in Japan and has become endlessly inspired by the infamous Japanese aesthetic, priding herself on her catalogue of great location spots.

Kathryn has an eye for locations and has worked on various projects from travellers photographs to commissioned work for a variety of brands. For someone that hasn’t seen Kathryn’s work, it focuses “on everyday mundane things and tries to elevate them by highlighting the colours or shapes, or having someone interact with the space in an interesting way”. 

Kitsunekun is derived from Kitsune (狐) which means fox in Japanese and Kun (君) a Japanese honorific, usually used for males and mainly used by superiors to inferiors, such as boys or juniors. Honorifics within Japanese culture is incredibly important and refering to someone by only their name without an honorific can be perceived as extremely bad manners or yobisute (呼び捨て).

unagi: How does living in Japan inspire your output?

Kathryn: Just, one hundred per cent does!

Being out and about and walking streets everyday is always inspiring and I always find something I want to photograph.  The fresh perspective I have here as someone not born and raised I think has really changed the way I notice detail and look at the world around me, so since Tokyo's environs are so different than what I grew up with, everything sticks out at me and everything could be a subject.  And Japan's attention to detail and design is probably second to none.  Since moving to Japan I think my content has become completely Japanese-aesthetic focused in some way or another.

Have you been greatly affected by coronavirus in your work?

Kathryn: Oh yes. Yes yes very much.  It's been ROUGH.  Since early March all of my gigs have been canceled and it's been quite difficult to find and schedule any new ones.  I did do a couple projects from home, where an independent brand mailed me some wares and I photographed them in my space and sent over photos for them to use for social media and website advertising, and that was wonderful to be able to still be engaging in creativity and work even while quarantining. I'm quite keen to do more projects like this, but it's just a matter of finding clients who are willing to try this setup!

What are your plans for 2020?

Kathryn: Honestly at this point I gave up on making plans at all around the end of March.  I'm just going with the flow.  Too much is uncertain and too much falls through and too much shifts and changes these days, and i'm just in survival mode trying to stay afloat financially mentally and emotionally, which I'm sure a lot of other people can relate to as well.  The first smoothie pop up went well, so I'm thinking about trying another one with different flavours this time,  and I have some ideas for some shoots I'd like to try with a gallery show in mind, so we'll see.

Unagi is a site for recommendations for those inspired by Japanese aesthetic and lifestyle. What would you recommend to our readers?

Kathryn: Magazines like Madame Figaro Japan and Brutus or Casa Brutus are fun and inspiring to peruse and to see what's going on around the creative scene in Tokyo.

For more information on Kathryn’s work visit her Instagram or her website.