I am a photographer, but like many other photographers, I love other Art forms, too. I like going to Art museums and see Fine Art work. I like going through magazines to see different designs. My father is a jewelry designer in Japan and my parents exposed us, my sister and I, to various Art when we were growing up.

They took us to museums in London and Paris, to the actual locations in Arles where Van Gogh painted, Mackintosh museum in Glasgow, Scotland, to Austria to see Klimt, Schiele, and have cups of Vienna coffee, etc. Unfortunately, I have terrible memory and I don’t remember most part of it….

My father always tells me, jokingly, but half seriously, he wasted money on taking me on those Art trips.

My sister remembers everything so at least he did not waste money on her…

Anyway, long story short, I started working for Newport Jazz Festival in 2010, as an event photographer. I took photos of their events, including the festival itself, side events and Gala parties. After a few years, George Wein, the founder of the jazz festival, asked me if I would design their program book. I actually said no, at first, because I had never done that before. He said, “Ayano, I want you to gather photos you shot in the past a few years and use them for our 60 year anniversary program book. And can you design it?” He said it so easily, but I was like, “Why is he asking me to design it???” I contemplated for a while, but I decided to take his offer. And after I took his offer, I started studying how to design. 

And it turned out to be the experience that let me really appreciate my parents’ investment on the Art trips when I was growing up.

Although I do not remember the actual trips, I could feel those experiences had become part of how I see. I actually sometimes wonder if I chose to learn how to design earlier, I might have been a designer now, not a photographer. 

But that is just a “what if” story. I am a proud photographer now and still learning and growing as a photographer everyday.  The images on this page is from Newport Jazz Festival program book 2017. 

I still design program books for George Wein and I am working on it right now. My other design work can be see on this Design Tearsheets page. 

It is refreshing to work on design projects after many photo shoot projects. They mutually benefit each other in my mind.