Meet Asako Imamura

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Asako Imamura a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Asako, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

When I’m taking pictures for my clients, whether it’s a party, family photo, or portrait, my goal is to provide the best images that make them esctatic, make them smile, and say “wow!!”. To do so, I am wiling to go above and beyond, instead of just doing my job. For instance, for family portraits, I offer to zoom beforehand. If the children are shy to a new person, I bring toys and check their favorite cartoons. I make sure parents know they can take a break as needed, I am able to think in their shoes, I want to use my imagination to provide maximum comfort, I want to make sure the experience with me is special and will bring a warm memory. Why?

Because I’ve been the other side. People in New York that I grew close with have been extremely generous with their time, knowledge, and being empathetic to my situations. Countless times I can think I would not have made it here in New York without my friends, and even just brief acquaintances. I moved to New York from Japan when I just turned 20, initially to study English. I knew nobody and I spoke very, very, very little English. As you can imagine, the road to make it in New York was not rosy nor easy. My friends, and people I encountered have been extremely generous to me, and that’s how I learned to be generous to others as well.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I was in finance at one point in my life, and it was not my interest however it was needed to survive here. It was not the career I was excited to get up for in the morning but I met many great friends for life which made it all worth it. But as a career path, it probably wasn’t a great place to be as I had no passion for it. For the longest time like many of us, I did not know what I wanted to be, can be, and could be.

Photography, especially taking pictures of people — anything from family portraits, parties, engagement, to events, I feel the happiness, positivity, and this great energy of the people I encounter. I can be standing walking around for hours taking pictures, yet I’m so fulfilled, so focused to capture the moments, to seal the smiles in the images, and this is the only job I ever had to have this feeling of satisfaction and excitement. I get up excited for the photoshoot! What motivates me and make me appreciate that I have this wonderful profession, is when I see or hear clients express their gratitude to me and the images I took. There is nothing like reading the positive feedback from my clients saying that they’re so happy and honored to have me as a photographer at whatever the occasion that may be.

I focus on reflecting on the moments in the images. Moments like the excitement of the party, tender eternal love in the air for an engagement photo, or the explosion of the smiles of kids in family portraits. I always make sure the subjects are relaxed and smile organically — whether the subject is the CEO of a large company, or just children. It is a communication skill I acquired through many other jobs I had prior to becoming a photographer, including a medical translator, marketing manager, and risk management. It is a skill I had to acquire quickly as an immigrant here. My first language is Japanese, and I had to be constantly thinking of the right way to communicate effectively.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Communication skills
Many professions I can think of, requires this skill on top of whatever other skill you have, such as in my case, photography. Even if I knew about the mechanics of cameras more than anyone else and could take awesome pictures, but my communication skills didn’t improve, I do not think my business would be sustainable, as I find the majority of clients via word of mouth and Instagram. I also have many repeat clients.
Although many things are automated now, taking pictures are very much in person, I can’t remotely take pictures neither. It is a face to face, and personal encounter. So communicating in a polite, reliable, yet relaxed manner is the balance I found to work best for my situation. It’s important to observe and explore what tone, depth, or style of communication is most suitable for your own business.

Keep Calm
Unexpected things happen. I used to think too much and drove myself crazy, making myself so nervous and anxious. For instance, many years ago, I had an engagement photoshoot for the couple traveling from Japan. They only had that day to do the photoshoot. I was worrying. What if it rains? What if my camera breaks down? What if I wake up with a fever? What if my kids are sick tomorrow? It is good to have a backup plan, but it is also pretty impossible to plan for 100 different “what if” situations. In this case, everything went fine, and all of my concerns were a waste of time. Except, my flash broke in the middle of the photoshoot. I panicked and I felt like this is the end, the couple will not have a great images and they will remember me as a horrible photographer. Downward spiral of negative thoughts took over me.
Fast forward to now, I learned to keep calm. It is a belief that I can do it, I can do something about it and everything will be ok. Once I’m able to tell myself so, I am always able to find a solution.
Unfortunately, there was another accident where the flash broke off from my camera body. This time, I learned my lesson so I called a close photographer friend and asked him to bring his camera and flash — the camera in case his flash didn’t fit my camera. I lost 30 mins of time and had to explain to the client, but it turned out to be just fine.
Panicking and negative thinking do not lead to solutions. Keep calm and believe in yourself!

Be yourself
It does not mean you don’t have to try, it means you need to constantly thrive to be a better you. You can be yourself at most occasions.
I found that the key and sustainable way to happily stay in business is to be yourself at work as well.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

I was raised by a single mother – she ran a small advertising company, thinking she would not be able to afford to send me and my sister to college if she didn’t have her own business. She wanted to give us opportunities. The big picture she had already was very aspiring to me to dream big. She showed me how there is always a way to make it possible for things you want to do or achieve, and you just need to find the way and work through it.

The most courageous and impactful thing she did was to let me try and fail, throughout my life. I was interested in many things growing up, I tried martial arts, piano, second language, cooking, singing, dancing, acting, so on and on. I did everything I wanted to try. During my teenage period, I auditioned for a singing role and actually placed 2nd in 1200 participants! I joined a dance group and performed at small events, and my dream was to study abroad. She always let me try. I did not have to achieve anything, most things I just dropped after a few months. But some stayed with me and as a mother of two now, I know how hard it is to let them try and fail. I always want to either make sure they don’t fall by paving the way or having a safety net on their back… I need to be stronger to just be an observer and let them grow and just catch when they fall — rather than preventing it in the first place.
Trying and failing taught me an important lesson. It is ok to fail, you just need to try again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.asakoimamura.com
• Instagram: aiproductionnyc