Avanika & Parichay's Anniversary Session in Japan

Avanika and Parichay came back to Japan to mark a wedding anniversary and turn it into a honeymoon of their own, and asked me to spend an afternoon into evening with them, first at a centuries-old temple, then through an old quarter of lantern-lit streets, in early December, while the last of the season's colour was still clinging to the trees.

They arrived already knowing the kind of images they wanted: cinematic, generous with light, composed so the two of them are always the thing the eye lands on first. That's the language I speak most naturally, so once we'd talked through what this trip meant to them, the day came together easily. As a Japan-based, bilingual photographer who has shot for British Vogue, this is exactly the kind of session I love: less a checklist of poses, more a real few hours of a couple's life, held still.

We started at the temple while the light was still soft, crossing a red arched bridge as the pond below caught the last of the season's colour, the whole scene doubled in reflection. Later, as the sun dropped low, we found the steps of one of the halls, its lanterns just starting to glow against the deepening colour of the trees, and let Avanika and Parichay simply sit together the way they would on any ordinary evening, except this one was theirs to keep.

By evening, we'd moved into an old entertainment quarter, its narrow streets strung with paper lanterns. We wound through the alleys, paused outside a small restaurant glowing under a lantern, and let the neighbourhood's own theatre, the signage, the noise, the warmth spilling out of doorways, work as the backdrop it always is for two people wrapped up in each other. The night closed at a small shrine, its gate lit red against the dark, Avanika and Parichay standing close the way you do at the end of a good day, in no hurry for it to end.

A couple who already loved Japan, coming back not to relive one day but to add another to it, temple light and lantern glow both now written into their story.

Vendor credits‍

• Photography: Sofia Hiramatsu Photography

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If you're dreaming of the same

If an anniversary or honeymoon session like this is the kind of story you'd want told, I'd love to hear from you. For help choosing when to visit, see the best time to get married in Japan, or explore Japan wedding photography.