Kei Orihara

 ( 1948 Births ) 

Orihara held her first solo exhibition, Soul South, in 1977. An early project was of people sitting in Tokyo trains."Kao no aru fūkei" () / "Train Passengers", Asahi Camera, July 1979, pp.100–103. From 1979 to 1981 she lived in New York City, where she became close friends with a model named Jana; photographs of Jana's everyday life were exhibited in Japan in 1982, turned into a feature within the Japanese edition of Playboy, Playboy Japan, January 1983; as "Christmas Tree Stand" (), and . and into a book ( Jana: The New York Girl) published in 1984. This was notable both for being a woman's portrait of a woman and for Orihara's free discussion in the texts of her perceptions of the differences and similarities between her model and herself.Mariko Sudō (), "Sugao no shashinka 5: Orihara Kei" (), Nippon Camera, May 1999, p.115.

In 1984 Orihara was noted for her success in interior portraits with natural and ambient light; she avoided flash.

Various photography exhibitions followed, while Orihara's major work was portrait photography for magazines, for example accompanying a series written by Amy Yamada in Men's Non-no. In 2000 she was living in Tokyo.

In 1999 Orihara published Photo Love, a book of her writing about life as a photographer, illustrated with photographs. It appeared during something of a boom in photography among young people; but Orihara had noted that the concerns of many of the young photographers were private, and she hoped to encourage people to see photography as a tool with which they could relate to other people and to society.

In keeping with Orihara's interest in people who at first seemed different from herself, she took on projects on young, third-generation Koreans in Japan, and people at a Roman Catholic church in Sotome, Nagasaki Prefecture."Fukkatsu no mura" () / "Resurrection Village", Nippon Camera, December 1993, pp.83–87.

Orihara turned to townscapes, photographing the port cities of Kobe, Kitakyushu and Hakodate,"Kōwan-toshi kankō" () / "Port-seeing", Asahi Camera, June 1982, pp.165–169. and the rooftop of New York City (especially those of the traditional, barrel-like construction); the latter appeared both for adults interested in photography"Water Towers", Asahi Camera, December 2002, pp.38–41. (Also in exhibitions.) and as a photobook for children.

From 2004 until 2010, Orihara lived in Athens, Georgia; she then moved to New York. From July 2011 until March 2016, she ran a photoblog of scenes in and near Sunnyside, Queens." Sunnyside, Queens", opening entry in Orihara's blog, 24 July 2011. Accessed 10 March 2013.

• Soul South. 1977.
• Jana (). Minolta Photo Space, Tokyo, July 1982. Nippon Camera, August 1982, p.100.
• Gogo no jōkyaku (). 1984.
• Homeless Town. 1989.
• Fukkatsu no mura (). Ginza Nikon Salon, November–December 1993. Nippon Camera, December 1993, p.87.
• Water Towers. Konica Plaza, Tokyo, November 2002. Asahi Camera, December 2002, p.41.
• Nyūyōku: Kyūsuitō no aru fūkei () / Water Towers New York. Echigawamachi Bintemari no kan (Echigawa, Shiga), October–November 2003. Exhibition notice , Shiga gaido, 15 October 2003. Accessed 10 March 2013. Exhibition notice , Shiga hōchi shinbun, 15 October 2003. Accessed 10 March 2013.
• Water Towers New York. Kyōmachi Gallery Yamada (Kyoto), January–February 2004. Exhibition notice, Kyōmachiya. Accessed 10 March 2013.

• Jana: The New York girl (). Tokyo: Shueisha, 1983. . Photobook, with essays, about a girl in New York, Atlanta, and Half Moon Bay. 
• Tai: Mana to midori no taichi (). Sekai no kodomo-tachi, 24. Tokyo: Kaisei-sha, 1988. A book for younger readers about children in Thailand. 
• Thailand. Children of the World. Text by David K. Wright and MaryLee Knowlton. Milwaukee: Stevens, 1988. . English version of the above. 
• T'ai: Menam e hŭrŭnŭn Mana ŭi kkum. Segye ŭi ŏrini 24. Seoul: Ungjin Ch'ulp'an Chusik Hoesa, 1991. Korean version of the above. 
• Foto rabu () / Photo Love. Tokyo: Gentōsha, 1999. . Book of essays about a life and career in photography. 
• Me ni shōgai no aru ko to issho ni (). Baria-furī no hon, 1. Text by Tsuneyuki Takeuchi (). Tokyo: Kaisei-sha, 2000. . Book for younger readers about blind people. 
• Shōgai no aru hito e no borantia katsudō (). Baria-furī no hon, 9. Text by Toshiyuki Takizawa (). Tokyo: Kaisei-sha, 2000. . Book for younger readers about volunteer work for the disabled. 
• "Shōgai"-tte nan darō? (). Baria-furī no hon, 10. Text by Masako Fujita () and Eishi Yukumi (); photographs by Kei Orihara and others. Tokyo: Kaisei-sha, 2000. . Book for younger readers about disabilities. 
• Okujō no tongari bōshi () / Water Tanks in New York. September 2002 issue of the magazine Gekkan Takusan no fushigi (). Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten, 2002. Reissued within the series Takusan no fushigi kessakushū. Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten, 2008. . Photographs and text by Orihara. For younger readers. About the rooftop of New York City. The title literally means "pointed hats on the roof", as many of the water tanks shown have conical covers. In the 2008 edition, the title "Water Tanks in New York" only appears, inconspicuously, in the colophon.

• Joel Sackett, ed. Ten on Tokyo: An Exhibition of Leading Japanese Photographers. Los Angeles: Perpetua Press, 1988.