What makes Natsumi’s photos so popular is her natural expression and pose which has you wondering if she’s actually floating. But the Japanese teen swears she’s no magician, so how does she do it? It’s actually very simple, and yet pretty complicated at the same time. As soon as she finds the perfect spot for her shot, Natsumi sets the self timer on her Canon EOS 5D Mark II, or asks a friend to press the shutter, and just starts jumping. Doesn’t sound very hard, but the young girl sometimes has to jump 300 times to get that one perfect levitation photo.
Asked about the reactions of passers-by, Hayashi admits jumping repeatedly hundreds of time can get people a little edgy. She starts to hear them whispering around her, but almost never lets them hinder her art. ”One day, when I was jumping at a tourists’ site in the western part of Tokyo, cashiers at the nearby souvenior store started to freak out. I heard them whispering, ‘Has she gone mad?’ and ‘Should we call the Police?’ So I stopped jumping, and told them, ‘I am taking jumping photos to make a slide show for my wedding party.’ Then they blushed and told me, ‘Oh sorry!’ ‘Congratulations!’ ‘Good luck jumping!’” Natsumi remembers.
Unfortunately, Natsumi Hayashi has stopped posting photos of herself levitating on her blog, on May 10th this year. She worked part-time as an artist’s assistant for the last two years, learning the secrets of photography, and with the success of her Yowa Yowa Camera Woman Diary I can only hope she has already started her career as a successful photographer and just doesn’t have time to “float” anymore.
Natsumi’s work reminds me of another unusual photo series – 100 Kisses in Paris, where a Taiwanese girl photographer herself stealing kisses from 100 men, while studying in Paris.
Photos by Natsumi Hayashi