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# Psychedelic Cherry Blossoms in a New Photo Series
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/takeshi-suga-psychedelic-sakura/
- Published: 2012-05-21T17:19:25.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:46:04.000Z
- Description: LOS ANGELES — Spring is upon us, and cherry blossoms are blooming around the world. It's hard to take a bad picture of a cherry blossom, known as sakura in Japan, so how do you take a better one?
- Author: AX Mina
- Tags: Opinion, Photography, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:51 (2012, 2013, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/05/sakura2-e1337549536700.png)

LOS ANGELES — Spring is upon us, and cherry blossoms are blooming around the world. It’s hard to take a bad picture of a cherry blossom, known as *sakura* in Japan, so how do you take a better one?

A [recent post](http://www.thefoxisblack.com/2012/05/01/the-dreamy-photos-of-takeshi-suga/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at The Fox Is Black turned me on to the work of [Takeshi Suga](http://sugarcrisp.viewbook.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a UK-based photographer who recently completed a dreamlike series on the famous sakura of his native Japan. As Suga [writes in his artist statement](http://sugarcrisp.viewbook.com/about?ref=hyperallergic.com), “Components of my photography are nostalgia, sentimentality, euphoria and loneliness. I seek comfort and tranquility in my subjects.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/05/sakura1.png)

I emailed Suga and asked him a bit more about his process. He replied:

> Two years ago, I discovered the technique through an accidental double exposure shot I took with a Lomography camera. Since then, it has become an integral part of my photography. By overlaying two images, one descriptive (in focus) and one suggestive (out of focus), I aim to present simultaneously the descriptive clarity of photography with the haze of memory, creating a rich and imaginative glimpse of the world around us.

The series, appropriately titled [*Sakuramadelica 2012*](http://sugarcrisp.viewbook.com/album/sakuramadelica-2012?p=1&s=UA-19092943-1&ref=hyperallergic.com#8), takes the classic sakura trope and turns it into a more expressive series, reflecting, in many ways, the high of seeing fields full of pink blossoms. The blossoms have been depicted by Japanese artists since the days of [Hiroshige](http://www.globalgallery.com/detail/369110/hiroshige-cherry-blossoms?ref=hyperallergic.com) and, even further back, [Lady Murasaki](http://summergenji.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/it-is-because-cherry-blossoms-fall/?ref=hyperallergic.com), so Suga has a long tradition of Old Aesthetic to live up to. I’m no expert on sakura art, but these new shots are wonderfully psychedelic.