Photographer AKANE Featured in the May 2026 Issue of 'Commercial Photo'
Photographer AKANE from amana inc. is featured in the 'Design Techniques for Still Life Photography' section of 'Commercial Photo' May 2026, revealing her unique creative process.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 15, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 15, 2026 at 10:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 10:10 (95h 38m after Collected)
Photographer AKANE, who belongs to amana inc. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, President: Takeaki Kaneko, hereinafter 'amana'), which realizes communication transformation through creativity, participated in the feature 'Design Techniques for Still Life Photography' in the May 2026 issue of Genkosha's 'Commercial Photo'.
The magazine introduces her newly shot works themed on glasses, the production process from conception to lighting design and retouching, as well as the ideas and expressions that run through her artwork.
This time, AKANE faced "glasses," a subject that is familiar yet difficult in still life photography. Based on her own production perspective of "stripping away the symbols of objects and making them reborn into new things" for a subject with a sense of déjà vu, she took on the attempt to transform it into an image no one has ever seen.
Bringing a New Perspective to an "Over-Photographed Subject"
In the magazine, AKANE considered more than 10 ideas for the standard motif of glasses. From those, she selected a worldview like a pop and cute "tulip flower field made of glasses" and incorporated it into the shooting.
Taking advantage of the ambiguity of the shape that looks like a tulip or candy, the idea of shifting the established perception of a glass is a major feature that runs through AKANE's works. Rather than simply showing it beautifully as a vessel, she raises a "fluctuation of boundaries" in the screen that expands the viewer's interpretation.
Elaborately Designing Color, Light, and Arrangement to Give Life to Still Life
The magazine also introduces the process of assembling the composition by combining multiple glasses in the studio, starting with the main tulip-shaped glass. From the contrivance of treating the legs as "stems" and the process of adjusting to the ideal color while diluting orange juice, tomato juice, grapefruit juice, milk, etc., you can see her stance of accepting contingency while designing the screen with high precision.
In individual shots, she also challenged expressions that make you feel life even though it is a still life, such as blowing air into the filled liquid with a blower to add movement like swaying petals. The magazine is content that conveys AKANE's expression in a multidimensional way, including not only the finished visual but also the trial and error behind it.
Refining Unique Visuals While Going Back and Forth Between Artistic Identity and Advertising Expression
In the second half of the magazine, her Personal Works such as 'Campagne Milk,' 'ring forest,' 'jello tower,' and 'fake fruits,' as well as actual examples of advertising and visual production, are introduced. The technique of connecting different things and converting a sense of incongruity into a new image is consistent in both her artistic activities and advertising expressions, conveying that AKANE has built unique visuals with both free thinking and shooting skills.
Observing familiar objects, dismantling their symbolism once, and reconstructing them by giving them another meaning. This glass piece is a work in which AKANE's production stance is condensed, and the content once again presents the possibilities of still life photography expression.
Photographer Profile
AKANE
Born in Nagano Prefecture, raised in a transferred family. Spent her time from elementary school to high school in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. Moved to the US upon entering university, and joined amana after graduating from Columbus College of Art & Design. Utilizing her experience as a third-culture kid, she excels at an eccentric and dreamy world that mixes culture, history, and all sorts of things. Her strength is unconventional, exciting POP visuals, and she pursues her unique expression from both advertising and artistic activities.
Portfolio page: https://www.amana-visual.jp/photographers/akane
Instagram: @iizukane
Book Information
Media Name: Commercial Photo May 2026 Issue
Release Date: April 15, 2026
Publisher: Genkosha Co., Ltd.
Related Links:
Photographer Portfolio https://www.amana-visual.jp
About amana inc.
Established in 1979 as an advertising photography production company. After that, it expanded its business to become one of the largest creative studios in Japan that produces and provides visual production such as still images and videos (TVCM, WEB videos, etc.), and CG (retouching, 3DCG, apparel CG). Currently, it provides services using abundant creative resources and over 10,000 cases a year.
The magazine introduces her newly shot works themed on glasses, the production process from conception to lighting design and retouching, as well as the ideas and expressions that run through her artwork.
This time, AKANE faced "glasses," a subject that is familiar yet difficult in still life photography. Based on her own production perspective of "stripping away the symbols of objects and making them reborn into new things" for a subject with a sense of déjà vu, she took on the attempt to transform it into an image no one has ever seen.
Bringing a New Perspective to an "Over-Photographed Subject"
In the magazine, AKANE considered more than 10 ideas for the standard motif of glasses. From those, she selected a worldview like a pop and cute "tulip flower field made of glasses" and incorporated it into the shooting.
Taking advantage of the ambiguity of the shape that looks like a tulip or candy, the idea of shifting the established perception of a glass is a major feature that runs through AKANE's works. Rather than simply showing it beautifully as a vessel, she raises a "fluctuation of boundaries" in the screen that expands the viewer's interpretation.
Elaborately Designing Color, Light, and Arrangement to Give Life to Still Life
The magazine also introduces the process of assembling the composition by combining multiple glasses in the studio, starting with the main tulip-shaped glass. From the contrivance of treating the legs as "stems" and the process of adjusting to the ideal color while diluting orange juice, tomato juice, grapefruit juice, milk, etc., you can see her stance of accepting contingency while designing the screen with high precision.
In individual shots, she also challenged expressions that make you feel life even though it is a still life, such as blowing air into the filled liquid with a blower to add movement like swaying petals. The magazine is content that conveys AKANE's expression in a multidimensional way, including not only the finished visual but also the trial and error behind it.
Refining Unique Visuals While Going Back and Forth Between Artistic Identity and Advertising Expression
In the second half of the magazine, her Personal Works such as 'Campagne Milk,' 'ring forest,' 'jello tower,' and 'fake fruits,' as well as actual examples of advertising and visual production, are introduced. The technique of connecting different things and converting a sense of incongruity into a new image is consistent in both her artistic activities and advertising expressions, conveying that AKANE has built unique visuals with both free thinking and shooting skills.
Observing familiar objects, dismantling their symbolism once, and reconstructing them by giving them another meaning. This glass piece is a work in which AKANE's production stance is condensed, and the content once again presents the possibilities of still life photography expression.
Photographer Profile
AKANE
Born in Nagano Prefecture, raised in a transferred family. Spent her time from elementary school to high school in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. Moved to the US upon entering university, and joined amana after graduating from Columbus College of Art & Design. Utilizing her experience as a third-culture kid, she excels at an eccentric and dreamy world that mixes culture, history, and all sorts of things. Her strength is unconventional, exciting POP visuals, and she pursues her unique expression from both advertising and artistic activities.
Portfolio page: https://www.amana-visual.jp/photographers/akane
Instagram: @iizukane
Book Information
Media Name: Commercial Photo May 2026 Issue
Release Date: April 15, 2026
Publisher: Genkosha Co., Ltd.
Related Links:
Photographer Portfolio https://www.amana-visual.jp
About amana inc.
Established in 1979 as an advertising photography production company. After that, it expanded its business to become one of the largest creative studios in Japan that produces and provides visual production such as still images and videos (TVCM, WEB videos, etc.), and CG (retouching, 3DCG, apparel CG). Currently, it provides services using abundant creative resources and over 10,000 cases a year.