Day in a life of Stephanie and Benji

Jun 4

Written By Sanïa

I met Stephanie 5 years ago, few months after we moved to Japan. Honestly if it wasn’t for her I don’t know how I would have fit in in this city. She is the reason we met so many wonderful people, she is the reason I got to struggle little bit less at the doctor’s office when taking T for check ups, she is the reason I know so many dog friendly cafes, and she is the reason why I am writing this right now. 
Stephanie is such a positive person, always there to support you, always there to listen, always there to walk Yoshi with me and now here to support my documentary photography journey.
She has helped us so much, and this photo shoot was a little give back from me to her. I always had her on my mind when I started this photography journey, I wanted to capture the special bond she has with Benji, and when I asked her - to my luck, she immediately said yes.
When I started writing this blog post and thought about writing a little bit about her and all the things she loves I noticed that we are a little bit alike, and that makes me happy because she is a person that I look up to a lot. Stephanie likes long walks and hikes, she loves riding her bike, loves Japan, and enjoys a good book.

After she agreed to do this photoshoot with me, we picked a day in early March to go for a little bike ride to a near by waterfall. We picked this location because this is a special place for Stephanie and Benji, she takes him often here for his daily walk. After the walk we went back to her place and captured some of their daily routine at home.

During the photoshoot I did took some portrait style photographs but I mainly focused on the documentary style, I was aiming to capture that bond between Stephanie and Benji without them looking at my camera. Looking back at these photographs I hope one day they will bring joy to her, seeing the moments of how Benji looked at her, or how patiently he waited for her when she heads to the toilet, or how gently she gives him a peck on the cheek. These are moments that will last forever.
All photographs were taken with Sony A7III and a Sony 35mm 1.8 lens.