Japanese Knives
Suncraft Kawashima Elegancia Utility Knife
In February 2020 — just before the world went sideways — my husband and I visited Japan at the invitation of one of his organization’s member companies. Gil worked everyday, while I got to play tourist until it was time for business dinners in the evening. What a sweet deal for me!
Tsutenkaku tower overlooking a busy street in the Shinsekai neighborhood of Osaka, Japan.
We only had a day and a half in Osaka, so I made it count with a food tour of the Shinsekai neighborhood. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really get hopping until nightfall and we had a dinner scheduled for that evening, but I powered through, sampling So Many small plates at So Many restaurants, including takoyaki at Umai-ya (featured on Netflix’s Street Food series)!
Before the tour started, I stopped in at Tower Knives at the base of the Tsutenkaku tower. They have a large selection of Japanese knives that are so beautiful they’re practically works of art, and so sharp you don’t even realize you’ve been cut until much later (something my dad learned the hard way when using his new Christmas present, heh-heh). I tried out a few of the smaller chef’s knives and settled quickly on a curved blade, so I purchased the beauty you see at the top of the post, the Suncraft Kawashima Elegancia Utility Knife.
I photographed it for the anniversary of our trip, and loved the image so much, it went straight into my portfolio. Through careful lighting, I was able to highlight all of the features of the knife, from its smooth, curved pakkawood handle and brass bolster, to the engraved logo and decorative element at the cutting edge. It’s not an easy task to photograph a product with so many textures, colors and degrees of reflection, but that’s what I love about product photography — the challenge of lighting small objects to highlight their beauty and get potential customers salivating over it.
And because I couldn’t help myself, I also picked up what I now think of as The World’s Best Paring Knife (and photographed that, too).
Kasumi Paring Knife
The lighting challenges for this were similar, but tougher, simply because they were on a much smaller scale. But you can see the gorgeous wave pattern on the blade and almost feel the lethal sharpness of that point. This Kasumi is a pleasure to use, fitting my rather small hand perfectly, something I’ve been searching for in a paring knife for quite a while.
Even with mask mandates being lifted, I’m still taking assignments to shoot remotely at home or in rental studios in New Jersey; it’s something I’ve offered my clients for years, but became a real life-saver during the pandemic. These images are just a small sample of what we can do to highlight your products in a way that will have them flying off shelves. Interested in a product photography shoot? Fill out my short contact form, and I’ll get back to you right away.
