Monday, July 22, 2013

Tokyo's Levitating Girl





TAKING hanging around to a whole new level, for the last two years Tokyo-photographer Natsumi Hayashi has snapped a daily self-portrait of herself going aerial.
Armed with her tripod and Canon camera on self-timer, Hayashi ignores the confused stares of baffled onlookers to leap into the air seconds after she presses her shutter button.
The remarkable results make it appear as if she spends her days permanently floating around Tokyo, defying the laws of gravity.
"To achieve the look of levitation it's crucial that you don't appear to be jumping," she says.
"That means a controlled facial expression and lack of movement. It should look like a moment frozen in time, not mid-jump.

"When I take my levitation farther away from the camera than 10 second distance, I ask someone else to press the shutter release button."
Shortly after her project launched on New Years Day 2011, Hayashi sparked a worldwide craze for levitation photos.