Tea Stories: Japan

Tea Stories is less a recipe book than a piece of reportage, following the people whose lives are bound up with Japanese tea across the Kyoto and Shizuoka regions, from the farmers who tend the bushes to the ceramicists and sweet makers who complete the ritual. It is fundamentally about craft and patience, and about the quiet dignity of people who have given their lives to a single thing done well. The illustrator for the book came on the trip and sketched as we travelled around, which lent itself so well to the handmade nature of Japanese craft.

This kind of photography was very observational rather than arranged, photographing hands, landscape and process as they happen. I wanted the images to carry the stillness and attention that tea itself demands, so the pictures would slow the viewer down. Documenting a culture so rooted in ceremony was a beautiful experience, and a reminder of how fulfilling slowing down can be.