Portraits, Events + On Location Photography in Japan | Tia Haygood

JJ Walsh: 00:02

Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining this is seeking sustainability live talk show from Japan. I'm JJ Walsh based in Hiroshima, Japan. And today I have the pleasure of talking with Tia. Hey, good. Once again, Tia is in Tokyo. Thanks so much for joining Tia. Good morning, or I guess Good afternoon. Now, how are you? Good afternoon, good Mid Day, hopefully join us over their lunch break. Now I want to mention that this is the second time you have been on the show you were on in the very first episode with other photographers and videographers. So it's so great to have you back on because you can have the hour to yourself. And we can really dive into all the wonderful work that you're doing.

Tia Haygood: 00:53

When I first did that episode, I wasn't sure we would have enough to talk about. So I asked three contacts, but we had more than enough. So I'm really happy to have you back. Thank you so much. Thank you. I really really liked being a part and you might hear something going on in the background. It's just my apartment building, making announcements. I'll try and speak over them. But yeah, when you had me on the first time, I was so honored to be just among some like Alfie. I followed his work before I became a professional photographer. And before I even registered top tier, so to be in the same room virtual room as him and hearing him just compliment and comment on my own work was just just a fantastic opportunity. That's awesome. Well, we just had Alfie on a couple months ago as well. It's great to have you guys back on and look at more in depth about your work. Great project.

JJ Walsh: 02:07

So before we start, let's introduce a little bit about you and about your beautiful website so people can find out more after. Sure, sure. All right, what can we how can we do this? Just tell us a little bit about yourself.

Tia Haygood: 02:22

Okay. Well, yeah, like, as you heard earlier, in 2016, I registered my business, top tier photography, that's the logo, if you can probably see, can they see that? Oh, there we go. Perfect. So yes, my business is top tier photography, and I specialize in headshots, events, and branding photography. I also do travel photography as well promoting inbound tourism. And it's my fifth year I want to say 2000. Yeah, your fifth year now. So the fact that I thank you. So the fact that I've made it, yeah, this this long in this part is really mind boggling to me. It's mind boggling to my father, starting a business in another completely another country. So that's, that's basically my photography story. In a tiny nutshell, you haven't always been a photographer, right? You had other careers before? Yes, yes. So I moved to Japan in 2011. And I was focusing on Japanese history and to supplement my Japanese history studies. I was teaching English. And one of the things that I really, really enjoyed about teaching English is that it allowed me to just really be a part of the community, the Japanese community and just the Japanese culture. And I really just, I wanted more I wanted to immerse myself. So I changed, I changed positions, I changed gears, I didn't particularly want to go on an academic route. I wanted to find ways to basically enjoy just being in Japan, and I got different jobs that allowed me to be a part of Japanese schools, Japanese elementary schools that I could see things like their own Buckeye, there's no Chi and just, you know, just just live the Japanese life.

JJ Walsh: 04:29

Well, you have excelled in the photography world. So we're gonna dive into showing some of your beautiful, beautiful portrait photography, event photography and lots of other projects that you're doing. And before we dive into that, though, let's give a shout out. Congratulations for your certified professional photographers certificate. This is a big deal. Yes, yes. Oh my goodness. So when Corona virus happened and the

Tia Haygood: 04:59

Lock downs happen. I mean, it was kind of a lemons and lemonade kind of situation. So what I wanted to do is, I wanted to just find a way I could improve myself and prove my skill sets. kind of look at this in terms of Okay, this is just a setback. This is not the end, this is an opportunity where I can really invest in myself. And I heard about the certification of professional photographers through a course I was taking during this lockdown period from the north New York Institute of photography. And when I completed that course, they said, Okay, well, you're fit, you've completed the course, why not take the opportunity to apply for this exam, and they apply for this certification? And there are only really 2000 photographers worldwide. That whole disk certification. I'm surprised it's it's only 2000. But, but yeah, I just thought okay, yeah, join this exclusive club of certified photographers. And so I did and it was it was fantastic. That's great. Well, using the time during Coronavirus, to build foundations like that, like to up your skills to improve in some way.

JJ Walsh: 06:18

That's the target for all of us. But I think many of us are feeling guilty that we haven't accomplished more. So I want to make sure that I gave you a shout out for that because well done getting that done during COVID

Tia Haygood: 06:33

I know what it's because well, I mean to just to be pretty Frank, it was it was devastating. 60% of my business was events, I did a lot of event photography tagalong photographer where if somebody you know an inbound tourist comes into the country, and you just kind of follow them around you capture their their adventure for them. And that was just drying up, it was disappearing. It really did hurt.

JJ Walsh: 07:03

And just something to kind of get you through that that hump or get you through those those few months where you're still positive you have this time and you're just trying to use it effectively.

Tia Haygood: 07:16

And that was my motivation for for taking the NYIP course and then continuing on for the CPP certification.

JJ Walsh: 07:25

Yeah, that's awesome. I'm showing of course, like you mentioned, you're doing a lot of inbound tourism stuff. Maybe you're starting that more but you always take beautiful like destination photographs from off the beaten track as well. Working with Jarman international working with other travel and tourism guiding organizations maybe you love the creativity of the destination photographs is not your typical travel photos, you you show so much personality and character when you are on travel photography gigs, as well as the personal portrait photography. I just I love how you bring out the character of not only like statues, or at the shrine or temple, which is so hard. Personally as well, you seem to have taken a real creative stance on the portrait photography. I love that. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Tia Haygood: 08:29

Yeah. So one of the things that I really, really enjoy doing is getting people excited about being photographed. This is not a difficult thing for the man in this photo. he's an actor. And he was really excited to do the photo session with me. And it just it just really just tried to do something out of the box for him. And there's a lot of a lot of Japanese photographers, or Japanese models who work with photographers have a certain look and I kind of wanted to break that mold. Something that was a little bit more artistic something that was a little bit Moody, I love low key and moody photos in the studio, as you see from Patrick and Jamie in those two photos. This person we were celebrating Women's International Day with one of the few I think the only female executive in Western Digital. So that the that particular style is my artistic and fun style. So sometimes you will see that from time to time. But when it's me out and about exploring Japan, I do like a kind of storytelling to some of the photos that I take. I do like simplicity sometimes you will see minimalism in some of the photos.

JJ Walsh: 09:58

Oh, this one I really, really loved

Tia Haygood: 09:59

This is the nebuta Museum, I think I don't think this one was the winning nobuta float for 2019. But it was at the entrance and each. Now let me back up and explain this in our Morty, there's this festival called the Nebu termite city. And it's basically these massive lantern flutes. And they are presented in a way that tells a story. And oftentimes the story is a very epic story about a fight or battle or something really cool. And every year, the the, they pick the best nobuta flipped. And, sadly, there wasn't one last year and there wasn't one this year or isn't going to be one this year. So if you go to Ahmadi city, and you go to this nepeta Museum, they still have the winner from 2019. So look, I mean, lucky stars to the 2019 winner, they get three years of publicity. But yes, I just love a good story. And I love building stories through my through my photos.

JJ Walsh: 11:10

I adore, this one as well. This is in the urban landscape. So not only out in the countryside, not only at events or festivals, but even something that you might see every day. But the way that you show it through your camera, it brings out something extra I love this one is this Odaiba?

Tia Haygood: 11:33

That's in Odaiba, oh my goodness. So I found myself in a very OSHARE fashionable side of Odaiba. And this is the Soho, it's a co working space and exclusive co working space. And I just loved the colorful doors that they had on their walls. And I went over to take a picture to get a picture of it. And I just again, simplicity minimalism, the patterns of just having these doors. Looking back at the audience, it's just very quirky, it's very simple and clean. And that's what I appreciated most of that experience.

JJ Walsh: 12:14

I love it. The the simple things that you can make look interesting. Isn't that that's such a skill and a talent to walk around even your own neighborhood and see something interesting or valuable about it. Right. So I I love your photographer I in that way. Thank you. Thank you appreciate that also about photographs like taking photographs of people for portraitures. How do you bring out the character or personality of the people that you've photographed? Do you have any, any style or hints or philosophies for that?

Tia Haygood: 12:56

Well, when people come to me to ask for their headshots, their branding, or their portrait, a lot of times people say I'm doing this because I have to I'm doing this because I you know my pictures 10 years old or I look different. It's it's always presented as, honestly, a means to an end, but something that's obligatory like they have to do it. It's never like, Hey, you know, I'm going to go and take a photo of myself today. It's it's not that kind of whimsical motivation there, there's a need to get your photo taken. And following that following when I find that out from clients, the thing that I often hear is I really bad at taking photos, I don't like getting my photo taken, or I'm really bad at posing or please help me with with doing this and that. So I hear that a lot. These three ladies that you have presented, that they're not one of these people, surprisingly. But what I like to do is I like to reassure clients that having their photos taken with me is not going to be the equivalent of going to the dentist, they're going to have fun. I'm going to make sure the environment is conducive to their needs. They can bring their music. We're blasting music in the studio, on my bluetooth speaker. I'm coaching them with through different poses. So it's not going to be standing there saying cheese, it's going to be okay, do this, move your body this way, pull your shoulder down this way. So it's very guided. And a lot of the ladies and the men really do appreciate that. They really appreciate that they're not on their own. They're not just given a life jacket. And you know, they have to make do with what they have. It's really coached and it's really directed so that they're at ease and they no guarantee they're going to walk out with a photo that they're going to love. I love that and I was so interested

JJ Walsh: 14:59

When I read that on your blog, that a lot of people come to you and say, I haven't had my photograph taken like this for 10 years. And I, when I did a session with you as well, for me, it was a real pivotal time to I was it was more than 10 years I hadn't done for a long time. But I needed it because I was going, I was transitioning to like a new step in my life in my career. And so that's so interesting that people come to you at these pivotal points in their lives. What a What an honor and pressure as well, to document them at this important time. But you do it so beautifully.

Tia Haygood: 15:42

Of course, I mean, talk about pressure, a lot of times when people do come, if they're, if they haven't waited 10 years, they're they're getting a new photo because they want to change jobs, and they want to look fresh for LinkedIn or fresh for when they're doing interviews with their potential employer. So yeah, you're you're trying to make your client visually presentable for, you know, their next job. So obviously, you're not there, if they don't get the job. It's not my fault. But you know, sometimes you put that weight on your shoulder

JJ Walsh: 16:23

It is interesting as well, it looks like you're doing makeup as well as you do very professional lighting. And you knew what kind of poses would make people look more engaging. I just I love your style. I think that comes from being a people person who you are. So obviously a person who can connect to other people. You're not just a photographer. Do you find I didn't realize that you were also doing the makeup? Are you collaborating with makeup artists for that?

Tia Haygood: 16:54

Yes, yes. So I collaborate with two makeup artists. One who's from Africa. She's from Senegal. She's amazing. I love Darlene. Yeah, yeah. And the second one, her name is Nobu, a DOI from Kyoto. fully trained in Paris, I've been working with her for three years, I always offer clients the option to do makeup or have makeup done, a lot of ladies take that opportunity because maybe they don't wear makeup, or maybe they don't really trust their makeup skills. Or it's in the middle of summer. And by the time they get to the studio, it's just running down their face. So so they do appreciate having that ability or having that that opportunity to get makeup done. I also partner with a stylists. Because sometimes people don't really know how to style their clothes, or what kind of clothing combinations they would like to bring. So I do recommend a stylist to clients who can come to their house or have a consultation with them to decide which clothing they would like to have for the session or even go shopping with them so that they can buy something to add to that book. Wow, that's great insights. And that's something that I've certainly learned over the year. Since we interviewed last time now who are number 265. And you were level one, oh my god.

JJ Walsh: 18:26

But that's one thing that I've learned as well is that you you need to have some kind of foundation, you should wear bright colors, having a ring light at the top of your screen or be on your camera. It does help like these. These are things when you're using a visual medium, you do have to have the right stuff to have a look. Otherwise, you just don't get the same message across if you don't look right visually, right.

Tia Haygood: 18:56

It's so true. And I noticed a lot of I noticed sometimes there's there's an interesting transition of of clients that I have where there is somebody moving from Japan to the US or they're moving from a western country to Japan, a lot of the headshots of corporate or business headshots are quite casual, especially for startup companies or startup employees who have that relaxed, casual business casual look, their headshots are in sweaters, maybe what do you call it a collared shirt? those particular photos don't particularly they don't translate well here or sometimes people I've heard people are saying that they're not really received as well when they come to Japan because everyone wants the business suit. They want that professional look. So I have been getting clients that are saying Yeah, I've moved to Japan and I need something a little bit more business forward or business facing. And then the opposite. I have clients right now who are going to Japan or excuse me going to America and they're saying my my look looks too good. Corporate and I don't want to look stiff, I want to look personable and friendly and like a team player. So I do have in terms of your point to clothing coordinating and and who your audience is, it does come up. And it is it's so important to have both right to have the casual look, but also that professional headshot, as you're looking for a job, or if you're running your own company, and you want people to trust you, like having the the shots that you've done, professional versus casual. They're both really important, I think in this day and age, right? Absolutely. And I tell client, I tell clients, I say, Hey, you know, bring your professional outfit, because this is a usually a headshot session. But also bring something casual, that's kind of fun, and bring something that you you know, would never or haven't worn in a while. Because it's been COVID a lot of people haven't worn their formal wear their elegant wear. So the photo that you had, I think previously, the the black and white photo there, the one in the bottom 123 left, bottom right. We were doing a headshot session where she brought business clothes to the session, and I said, Oh, we'll just bring something like nice and formal. And we can do a beautiful like formal photo, and the black and white photo here. We did that. And when I actually did her photo reveal where, you know, I'm selling her her photos she got her business photos did in digital, but she specifically ordered a matted print of this photo, because you know, it's something that's outside of the box, it's something that you wouldn't normally do. Some of my clients, the last time they had their photos professionally done was their wedding day. So you know, depending on the time difference of when that was, that's a long time.

JJ Walsh: 22:00

And as someone who's been on the HR side, and reviewed potential teachers, CVS with photo, I can tell you the photo makes a big difference, especially if you want to trust them to be around your clients or to be around your students. Right. So having something where you show kindness you show character that people can trust. It's it's valuable.

Tia Haygood: 22:26

Absolutely, absolutely.

JJ Walsh: 22:30

Let's, let's talk about Angela Ortiz, because this year was a pivotal year for her place to grow. organization. And you also were in at an event with my invisible compass. Can you take those two? That's awesome.

Tia Haygood: 22:48

Yeah. So I love Angela. Angela is one of those people that you try to aspire to actually, I literally, I have her book that she just came out with last year. And it's a really good read if anyone's interested. Just an amazing woman and photographing her and her daughter at this session was quite fun. She's just, what can I say about her? She's super confident. I can just

JJ Walsh: 23:20

She's been in the series a few times. This year around the Tohoku disaster Memorial time. Her and her father were telling the story of place to grow. And the work that they've been doing over the last 10 years. I don't know much about my invisible compass was not in person event? or

Tia Haygood: 23:40

That was it in person event. During the lockdown. It was a symposium, which kudos to the team that put that together, there was a lot of preparation that they had to do for the immediate, everyone was spaced out just so that we could be be safe in that room. My Invisible compass was created by filmography Matt Miller who is the guy you see here. He's a part Japanese, half Japanese and half American and he just has a remarkable story. Not only of his own background, but of the person who he's talking about in the story. I think that they're still continuing funding for the film. It hasn't been released yet. Of course, COVID things kind of delayed the film just a bit, but it should be coming out soon, I believe. And you mentioned it was a fundraiser for mid I know Modi is it? So the How it works is as Matt Miller is one of the ambassadors he's one of the volunteers for me and I know Morty and he he's just one of the rock stars of that organization Mirai no Mori focuses on marginalized children who are in group homes or who are in less ideal circumstances, and they introduce them to nature. And I photographed for Mirai No Mori before and it's such a wonderful group of adults who just want to make things enjoyable for children find them an outlet, that they can build confidence, have fun, and just not really focused on the negative aspects of where they are, what they're going through and focus on something new and positive. That's where I met Matt Miller. And that's where Matt was filming and getting the footage of the movie of this documentary excuse me, my invisible compass which does follow one of the MIRAI NO MORI. Students Mirai no Mori campers, who did lose his family and lose his home in the Tohoku earthquake disaster.

JJ Walsh: 26:04

Wow. That's, I mean, we talked to Sarah Jean Rossitto, as well about Mirai no Mori. And it sounds like a great organization, just getting kids out into nature and doing really simple things like hikes. But it can have a really profound effect on their development and kind of reconnecting to nature helps them reconnect to themselves and their community. It's really beautiful organization. Looking forward to reaching out to Matt and learning more about that, that sounds really interesting.

Tia Haygood: 26:37

Please, please do. And going back to the Angela's point, this is something that I I've talked to Angela about, she really does believe in this idea of really being consistent with volunteering. That was what to me, that was one of the the main core parts of a place to grow. Because from what she was telling me is, you don't want to have volunteers that go and volunteer and then rock out and you never see them again, she talked to me about having the same volunteers consistently participating in visiting the people of Tohoku monthly, quarterly annually for her. I believe she had this really, really big Christmas event where people would go up to Tohoku and they would celebrate Christmas, and you had the same people there, then that would, you know, really strengthen the relationship between the people who they were helping and the volunteers. Matt is definitely one of those amazing people who have been consistent, and who I think he's been a part of Mirai no Mori since 2014. So so that's really something that's really key, especially for children, marginalized children who might have certain anxieties, and to be able to to trust somebody who is older, who is different, who is not Japanese, who's not speaking Japanese, that consistency is really important. And that's something that that both Matt Miller in the Mirai no Mori share with Angela, and a place to grow.

JJ Walsh: 28:11

Definitely. And the whole idea like Angela often says is the locals just don't want you to forget them. Now that it's been 10 years, so the the work still continues, right? It's important to think about another organization that you did photography for was breast cancer even was just run for the Cure?

Tia Haygood: 28:34

That was run for the Cure, absolutely. Run for the Cure, I joined them because I had people and I had a personal loss in my family to breast cancer. And when I came to Japan and started photographing, I wanted to join their cause. And I actually joined their cause Initially, I gotta back up for a second I am I was a few member and I was on the few board as a community service director, and I was trying to find npos that I could reach out to that are few members could participate in and width and volunteer for and at the time, they're run for the Cure event, their flagship event was coming up in December. And as I was talking to the as I was talking to the team, the coordinators to see if there could be something that we could do with few and with them. I just just kind of like hey you know, I'm a photographer Can I can I also photograph your event you know, this is like a really, really fun opportunity for me and for you guys as well. So we've actually had a relationship for I think it's four years now because I've also been photographing their pink ball and their Casino Night as well and a couple of photos for their magazine, their pink magazine.

JJ Walsh: 30:03

It's so difficult, let's talk about photography at events or conferences like this because you as a photographer in the studio, you can control the lighting, you can control the background, you can ask people to pose in a certain way. But when you're a photographer, photographer at an event or conference like this, you just have to find the right angle. This is a beautiful photograph, perfectly lit, perfect angle.

Tia Haygood: 30:34

For event photographers out there, um, well study your light look for the where the light is coming from, I can't really take credit on the lighting that was totally provided by the light designer who was lighting the stage that Vicki was talking at, or talking on so so that the real props go to the lighting design team. But in an event, the first thing I do is I try to study My my, my location, I study the room, I'm looking at what my light is, where's the light coming from? Is it a light that I want? Is it a light that I want to get rid of or change, once I make that decision, then I can set my cameras to where I want it to be, or set my camera settings to what I want it to be set my lights if I have external lights to what I want it to be. And then I start capturing the event.

JJ Walsh: 31:35

Another example of not being in control of your light, outdoor photography for weddings, beautiful.

Tia Haygood: 31:44

Oh, that's fun. You know, it's really funny, because I love the magic. And I love the romance of doing couples photos, because you can really tell them and guide them and coach them in many different ways. And you're not really dealing with too many people. It's just it's just two people in love. And they want something really magical to cherish and look at. So they're going to work for those photos. And you could tell them what to do and anything what to do or anything to do. This one we were in the Imperial gardens. And it was really nice. It was really nice day, nice and cloudy, I didn't have to worry about too much harsh sun. If I did, I would have had my assistant kind of helped me mitigate that that issue with a reflector or with a diffuser or something so that the the light isn't too harsh. But in this the second photo, this one is it's December because it's the illuminations but you don't see in the photo, the other 10 brides and grooms that are in this trying to capture the same thing. I wanted to capture something magical. not to get too technical, I guess I'm explaining the technicalities of the photo. I've got a light behind them. And I've got my assistant holding a light in front of them to kind of get a nice soft glow. But still you get that that bright feel and bright look of the illuminations behind them. So So yeah, that couples are really, really patient because they want the photo. They want that photo for the gram. They want that photo for the album. So if it means they got to do a little work. I find that very fun to do.

JJ Walsh: 33:42

Gorgeous, so it transitions beautifully into what you say is your favorite event to cover which is 7-5-3 and family photography all dressed up in beautiful traditional Japanese clothing kimonos to celebrate a child turning either seven, five or three. So, Shichi-Go-San, right?

Tia Haygood: 34:07

I love it. She goes on because, you know, it depends on a lot of things. It depends on how involved the family is with their local shrine. Because not all families, particularly Western families that like the the opportunity to do shichi go san photos, don't always know that you can actually go and do the ceremony in the shine with the priests. It's usually just like, Oh, no, we want to we want to want the experience. We want the to wear the archy modos and be presentable and just up. So the opportunity on a small level or less involved level is pretty strong for a lot of families. But then you get the Japanese families or the bicultural families where they're like no, we want to go to our local shrine, we know this, we've known our priests for 30 years he's been in our family, we want him to bless him or bless her. So sometimes I'm actually in those sessions, where I'm in the the, in the shrine with them. And depending on the rules of the shrine, most times, we're not allowed to take pictures during the ceremony. But I have experienced some lenient and forgiving priests that say, okay, you can take a couple of silent photos, but But please don't shoot the whole process, pick the key moments, and then just just kind of sit in the back. So it does vary in terms of involvement. These two photos out there for photos, the one where we had a priest bless the child was this orange photo, or this the yellow photo to the right, that when I did kind of have to, like I could shoot before the ceremony and after, but not during the ceremony. But then the remaining ones, these were pretty laid back less involved. sessions where we were at the shrine, and we enjoyed the the shrines, the location of the shrine, and we did a simple prayer at the shrine. And then that was the maximum kind of level of the shichi go san ceremonial practice.

JJ Walsh: 36:26

Can you talk a little bit technical here about what kind of camera you like to use, like on location? Okay, you mentioned before you take like a reflector, or an extra light, and you just tap the technicals a little bit.

Tia Haygood: 36:44

Sure. So for this, the I'll start from the left and then go to the right. So for the left one, I didn't use pop up flash, or no pop up flash, I used an on camera flash. Basically, it's on my camera, it's slightly, it's significantly bigger than a pop up flash, but I just wanted to diffuse it so that I could get a clear look about the details of the face of this child. I'm not going to name names of children. But this young lady and then this one, I just let the ambient light it was about late afternoon, take over. There is some editing involved to where I wanted to enhance the the warm, the warmth of the ambient light. So so that that's that's the the secret sauce for that photo. But the two red photos, the one on the one in the middle, and the one on the far right. These three girls knew each other. They're from different families. And they just wanted to have a session with them together where they're all experiencing, she goes on to have the girls are seven and one of the girls I think the youngest sister is five. And it was just a ball of them just wearing these commandos acting like you know, just just fashionistas, they really enjoy just just being in this kimoto and being in Japan in this shrine, that that was in Kamakura. But this one, the one words The young man, and there's the kind of haze, this boy was quite energetic. And I like energetic kids because I'm kind of an energetic 30 some odd year old and I like bump bouncing around and jumping and who Hi. And this one was no exception. And it was about dusk, a golden hour and he's jumping around. He's in his outfit, and then I just call his name and he just turned around and in that moment where the sun's just coming, boom, you know, I got the shot was not pre planned. It was definitely organic, which happens sometimes you get that magical moment that you didn't think of beforehand. So that was a magical moment.

JJ Walsh: 40:01

That's, that's gorgeous. I love that. And that's that's one key thing that Alfie was saying as well in his interview not long ago, that it, it requires some luck, when you're a photographer, you just sometimes are able to take the beautiful photo, but it definitely requires some luck,

Tia Haygood: 40:24

Especially with children!

JJ Walsh: 40:27

So another maybe difficult shooting that you had at the event was the Black Lives Matter March. And those photos are so powerful and so important in terms of documenting not only America's history, but what was happening in Japan, during the Black Lives Matter movement. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Tia Haygood: 40:51

Absolutely. So a little over a year ago, the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter movement had been around before the unfortunate events of George Floyd's murder, but the momentum, the footage of seeing people who had been on the fence with Black Lives Matter, and people who have been completely dismissive of Black Lives Matter at the organization, not the concept. We're starting to come around. And so you started seeing this wave of people listening and starting seeing this wave of people understanding and developing empathy, and really starting to manifest that into action of people who, you know, you might consider pulling teeth, you know, to see the in justices that were going on in us, we're starting to Linda ear. And that was no exception with Japan, because Japan, it had always been a that's an American thing. That's not an us thing. We don't really need to focus on that. And here on a day, where it was a lockdown day, because of the pandemic, and a day where it was raining, because it's June, and it's rainy season 3600 people had come out to voice their frustrations with the injustices of what happened to George Floyd. And that just blew me away. And I wanted to be a part of documenting that I want to see who's coming. What, what kind of messages are they are they saying and sharing. And I really honestly went there to ask people I was there asking Japanese people like, hey, what why are you here? What prompted you to be here? And a lot of people were saying, I saw the footage, I saw what happened on the news. And I thought it was I thought it was unfair, I thought it was disgusting. I wanted to, to to share my support to the Black Lives Matter movement. It was truly truly remarkable, which is seeing people young and old. Not just black, African American, black, but African and black, Caribbean, black, UK, black. And then of course, people who are neither of those things out there representing and supporting the Black Lives Matter, movement. Or at least I shouldn't say that fighting for justice for this man, George Floyd, and then seeing that conversation change into Hey, can we do some racial reckoning here in Japan with mixed race children and mixed race adults? So that that really was a magical kickoff? To not just a world reckoning, but but also a Japan? reckoning as well? Yeah.

JJ Walsh: 43:50

And intersectionality, right, like bringing into the conversation about like, Here, you have queers for Black Lives Matter or Queer as against racism. So bringing in other marginalized groups, gender empowerment, race, racial divide intersectionality, in terms of how you identify as a person and how you feel about your gender, and how is that talked about? So in terms of bringing in so many conversations that needed to have a light shine on it? That was a really powerful part of Japan's history! Not just happening in America. Right?

Tia Haygood: 44:34

Absolutely. And just taking the pictures and showcasing them. I mean, I'm one of those I'm like you said, I'm a people person. I like people to be happy. I like people to be comfortable. And so some of the things and frustrations that I have about my own mistakes, my own experiences with microaggression my own experiences with racism, you know, I was just always of the mind of people don't want to hear that. I just always kept quiet. And so being able to show these visually, really helped me kind of bring out my voice and say, Hey, you know, I'm going to talk about this, we can talk about it, and have a conversation about it. It'll be tough. And I was just blown away by the people who I worked with in past npos. People who were my clients, people who were, you know, just that this doesn't affect them in any way, shape, or form. We're being engaging in this really difficult conversation and educating themselves. And so it really helped me feel comfortable even being a part of this conversation with people who aren't, you know, are now my friends or people who I now see as true allies. Because you're right, joy. We all do need to come together and combat issues on a united front and not, you know, fragmented. Absolutely. And you did the beautiful portrait, she was one of the organizers, right? Yes, here a tad. She was one of the organizers. We got together to do a session in the studio to highlight more about Black Lives Matter through different mediums, including fashion, including other other portraits. So So yeah, it was it was really, really a nice project that we did together, as well as with Sophia. I'm going to get her name wrong. Mira Mira, with I'll link out a link to her handle, or her Instagram handle. But she was one, she was the one that actually kicked that collaboration off. Yeah, great. Well, it's great to see that you were able to capture these beautiful moments, not only in the protests, and not really protest, but in the marches, but also the people who were organizing who probably got a lot of negative flack, but having this beautiful, powerful portrait of someone who was an organizer and representing their role in this gorgeous way. That is the power of photography, and I just love it. You did a great job. Thank you. Thank you.

JJ Walsh: 47:21

And let's talk a little bit and transition a little bit back to travel. Sure. Representing the off the beaten track travel experiences. I think we talked about this a little bit. In our first talk your a year ago. Well, where is this? This is beautiful as the yellow flowers.

Tia Haygood: 47:43

Yeah, so that's NANOHANA. It's um, canola, canola flower, which, before I photograph this, I did not know that canola oil was made out of this flower. And to that this, these flowers are like seasonal. They're kind of like, like Sakura flowers. They only come out a certain amount of time, at a certain time of year. And we had just lucked out and just had, we saw this blindingly yellow field of these flowers. I just love for I think we stayed like, I don't know, a couple of hours. I just did not want to leave this place. It was absolutely beautiful, just photographing. And this we took this actually a couple of months, the last month, early last month. They had, they usually have again, another city that got canceled to COVID. They usually have a month CD. And they're usually more flowers. I mean, how can you imagine more, but they're a lot more. And they had to mitigate for social distancing. And not not, like I say, social distancing, and just not bringing too much of a crowd to the, to the city. So the mud city was kind of there was just a little bit low key this year. But just just the number I saw. When I was when we were there. It was just I just loved it. I really didn't want to leave.

JJ Walsh: 49:16

It's gorgeous. And I'm so glad to see that last year and the beginning of the COVID pandemic. There were some parks that had like two love blossoms, and they decided to cut them all down so people know them. Did they stop that tactic and let people go and enjoy outdoor spaces? Because it actually seems perfect to go and enjoy the outdoors, doesn't it?

Tia Haygood: 49:42

I mean it does. And this is kind of one of the good points about going to a less lesser known location is you know, if you're if you're going to say, Shinjuku go and it's it's there. It's in Shinjuku. Everyone's there. It's popular It gets crowded pretty easily. But you know, if you're traveling a bit further north, there's not a lot of people trying to get to the tippy top of our muddy, which is where we were to see, you know, these beautiful sights, I mean, they're worth going to see. But I just liked how we didn't have to worry about the crowd. I didn't have to worry about photoshopping people out of the photo afterwards, or people getting in the shot or waiting for people to leave, like I would in maybe comedy Q, or gendai. gardens are some of the Tokyo gardens that you see from time to time. I just love the seclusion and just the uninterrupted space that we were in. So

JJ Walsh: 50:52

Another good argument to get out of the big cities when you can because there is so much to see. And not only like really interesting culture, you know, really interesting local people, but these stunning views, we've only got nine minutes left. So any of these photos you want to talk about these are all gorgeous.

Tia Haygood: 51:15

Well some of them are should be familiar because we talked about them on the first episode. So like the the Nippondaira photo of Mount Fuji from the from the opposite side is one familiar one and the photo of the the paraglider paragliding the the kite that in Mount Oyama that I think I don't remember if we both went to that one, but But yeah, then there's Sado Island. And then I think the sun is we medical owns and the the swans and Naruko Onsen. So some of these are a bit familiar. But I did kind of just to establish our connection that we've been on a couple of these trips before.

JJ Walsh: 52:05

We were both at Nippondaira. I work at the border. You have Mount Fuji and you were out and I was out. We were out at the dawn right when the sun is coming up. You got your tripod out there and getting the best shot and it's just beautiful. Yeah, that sky paraglider is it? I didn't I wasn't on that trip. That's gorgeous.

Tia Haygood: 52:28

Oh, this one was with this one was with Jarman international and we were climbing Mount Yama. And I swear I wish more people knew about Mt.Yama. I will stand up on Mt.Yama and sing to the heavens about how gorgeous This place is. There's such a rich history to it. In the sense of there's a connection between Enoshima and Mount Fuji, it's the it's kind of like a halfway point in between the two and there are actually historical stories that connect the two the three places. But outside of outside of folklore and that kind of history. There's also like recent as a recent but like 150 year old history where merchants would come companies would come you know how, you know how in the 70s when companies had like the company retreat, and they go to like an onsen or they go to the Yukon or whatnot. Well, this was kind of what what companies were doing in like the late Edo period. And they would bring like these massive like, these massive swords that like wooden swords, and as a team, they had to do gun. And then the next morning when they're climbing up Mount Oyama, they carry this big, huge wooden sword because it's cut to be shaped like a sword. And the idea is, is that you know, they're trying to bring good fortune to their company, they're trying to bring good fortune to their business. If you go there now you can see like old business names that were written in certain bill cons or on the shrines. It really is a wonderful place and it is a great like, it's a great place that you could go for a day but it's also a great place you could go for the weekend. If you're very active, like if you like hiking, it's really great for hiking and then of course up top you get a nice little reward meal. Which was so fantastic because I think it took us three hours to walk it but one of us ran and I think it took him maybe about an hour, hour and a half to just run up there and the paraglider we I took that photo at the top of the mountain. So I do women's retreats, and I really want when everything you know it goes back to normal. I really want to get my next women's retreat to be out here in Mount Oyama. That would be awesome. One more thing I wanted to mention we haven't touched on yet is you out

JJ Walsh: 54:59

Let's go to product photography. Yes, this yuzu kosho ingredient because of course focus on sustainability. It's in a reusable container and making your own YuzuKosho. Instead of buying it from the store which is usually in a plastic container. This is very sustainable DIY and YUZU for anybody who doesn't know, I use it is a kind of citrus. And it was from Kochi I believe we had a guest on violet, talking about Kochi and all the user in the area. Kosho is black pepper. So what was the story behind this? This is a great photo.

Tia Haygood: 55:45

So yeah, so I do a lot of life lifestyle, product photography, and I also do catalog product photography. This one was to cover one of my favorite cooking classes, kitchen kneebone I love going to cooking classes, I miss cooking classes. But this particular one kitchen a poem they were making us a co show and they had like the salt from Niigata and they had like these really hot peppers that everyone was just in tears for cutting for for the easy co show because it is quite it has a bit of a kick to it. And I took everyone's prepared kind of bottles when they finished I taken them and I just photographed the the photos for their blog that they were going to write about. And and yeah, I got to make one as well. It's been a few years since this photo so I've already finished the easy co show already. But I do have the recipe they did give us recipe.

JJ Walsh: 56:53

Yeah, this is something in the workshop that we did. for sustainable seeking sustainable tourism workshop, which we tried a few times this year. We had a chef from a Ryokan in Nagano teaching how to make vegan Kaiseki Ryori, which is the beautiful dishes. And one of the ingredients he had all of us go and buy is yuzu kosho. And I couldn't find it. Because the kanji on the package was so difficult. Once I found it there was a huge section, like a secret ingredient of Japanese cooking that I had not realized. Oh, and it's delicious.

Tia Haygood: 57:33

I love it! YUZU KOSHO is the first thing I buy when winter hits, because I put it on all of the Oden that I get during the season. So whether it's convenient Oden or grocery store or I haven't gotten to making my own Oden yet, but but I forego the mustard and I put yuzu kosho on everything. Everything Oden

JJ Walsh: 58:02

That's awesome. Do you want to go through your PDF if there's anything we didn't touch on?

Tia Haygood: 58:08

You know what we touched on pretty much everything. I'm looking through it right now. And I mean, yeah, we talked about just everything that is So I had to schedule a trip to come down or to go down to make it a river and, and just take pictures of the sakura in the area.

JJ Walsh: 59:08

It is a gorgeous photo. And I have taken sakura photos for many, many years as everybody in Japan or every visitor Japan does in spring. But it's not easy to take good photos of the sakura it there's there's like too much of it and finding the right angle. So this is a great, beautiful example of what a real photographer can do.

Tia Haygood: 59:32

It's one of those things where you have to think about like, yeah, it's you have to think about what you want to highlight. Of course you want the Sakura but do you want the soccer a tree amongst the other trees? Do you want the sakura a petal amongst the other pedals or the collection of Sakura, amongst the other ones. It's all about really trying to isolate the main one. Instead of just taking a picture of anyone you define one that you want to really focus on, and then take a photo of it and try to find ways to enhance it so that it's not just disappearing amongst all the other Sakura photos. And it's a fun flower photography tip. It just trying to isolate the photo the flower you want to focus on.

JJ Walsh: 1:00:22

Oh, then that is beautiful. It's a great one to end on. Thank you so much for joining, you know, your photography insights. I would love to do this every six months or every year and follow up on your new projects, your new photos.

Tia Haygood: 1:00:38

Oh, thank you. I've got quite a few coming up. And it's summer. So of course, all the summer photos. I'm really excited about taking there'll be some underwater photos. There'll be some nighttime photos. Every year I try to get something underwater and I try to get the Milky Way. And when I'm in Niigata, so keep an eye out for those.

JJ Walsh: 1:01:01

Great. Yeah, maybe I can just show your website at the very end. Sure. Beautiful website. Let me see. Does this work? There you go. Can you see that? Yeah, I can see it on, I guess the side panel. Okay. You can I have to choose it. Here we go. Okay, let me get us off screen just for a sec, because I want to feature your beautiful website. It's gorgeous. Thank you. And really well done. And so it shows all your different kinds of photography you do. at events, family, couples, headshots, portraits, and you also have a blog, where you talk about some of your other projects. So definitely check out top tier.com Nice and easy. I like it.

Tia Haygood: 1:01:55

Thank you. Thank you.

JJ Walsh: 1:01:56

Yeah, thank you so much. And thank you everybody for joining. That was a great conversation with Tia and tomorrow we are talking with LaShawn Toyoda, who is a programmer and she created a great open source resource right now for people who are looking to sign up for vaccinations even if you don't have your voucher. So she's going to talk about that project that she's done on Twitter. She's Yokohama life, so easy to find if you want to have a look before tomorrow's talk, but a 5pm tomorrow talking with LaShawn, so definitely join us again, tomorrow. Thank you, everybody, for joining. Thank you so much. Tia thank you. Have a good day. You too. You too.

Tia Haygood: 1:02:47

Bye. Bye, guys.