Lafugue Logos

Still Life & Macro | Last Updated: February 15, 2021

Hello, everybody. I am Sanae Matsuzaki, a photographer from Japan. I am also known as Lafugue Logos.

For ten years I wrote, edited, and took photographs for pamphlets and a public information magazine at a medical institution. I was moved by the strength of the employees and patients I met there. I wanted to find a way to express their inner lives and feelings.

Since December, 2011, my goal has been to take photographs that capture my mental image of the subject in a decisive moment of transformation. I sometimes take portraits of musicians and artists, but mainly I photograph flowers using a close-up lens.

My favorite subjects to photograph are the cotton wool of dandelions and flowers that have passed their golden age. It shows that anyone can be beautiful if they live for the present.

I find a moving similarity between the beautiful old age of the people I met at hospitals and elderly housing facilities and the state of flowers that have bloomed and are starting to wilt. I feel that there is a state of consciousness there, much like the “Zen and Shinto” at the root of Japanese sensitivity.

I hope to continue making photos that please myself – pressing the shutter without question if I meet a soul eking out a living, for example in flowers or insects so small you could step on them by accident.

Here is my main gear:

My main camera is a Nikon D700. I first picked up a Nikon when I switched over from a film to digital, and I have used Nikon ever since. The D700 gives me joy regardless of the subject—portrait, landscape, or macro—and the body is convenient to use.

Lenses for the Nikon Mount:
Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/4 (Old Lens),
AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4 (works as a macro lens with the Sigma Life-Size Attachment)
Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro
Sigma DG Macro 50mm f/2.8
Sigma DG 70-300mm f/4-5.6
Sigma Macro Super-Wide II 24mm f/2.8 (Sometimes for a portrait)

I prefer to select my lens based on the inspiration given by the subject, however, the Tamron 90mm and Sigma 50mm are the ones I use the most.

In addition, for a particular image I may choose a Meyer-Optik Görlitz Domiplan 50mm f/2.8 for its bokeh.

I enjoy the personality of the lens without being concerned in numerical value too much.

Another camera I use is the Sigma SD15 with a Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8-4.5 HSM and compact Sigma DP3 Merrill. I like Sigma’s X3 direct image sensor very much, especially when developing the RAW images.

Also in my camera bag I have my Sigma Life-Size Attachment, which I use with either the Nikon 50mm or the Sigma DP3 Merrill, and batteries, a charger, and spare SD and Compact Flash cards.

The tripod I sometimes use is a Velbon Light450 D.

Macro photography is usually indoors, and often requires lighting equipment. I use several particularly small arm lights that I bring together and hang to light the space and adjust the shadows. In addition, I use fabric and several small tools in the background.

www.500px.com/lafuguelogos