From Instagram to a book deal
Imagine getting a travel book commission a er just one tourist trip to Japan. Photographer Eren Sarigul tells Geo Harris how he did it
If you are still sceptical about the importance of promoting your photography on social media, Eren Sarigul’s story is a salutary reminder of the doors it can open. Eren, a young Londoner, went from posting images of a trip to Japan on Instagram to getting a book contract to return to the country – with the publisher supporting the trip. The book, Across Japan, was released recently (you may have noticed Japan has been in the news a lot of late) so we caught up with Eren to find out how he got such a great commission so early in his career.
Discovering photography
What’s particularly impressive about Eren is that he had no real background in photography before going to Japan the first time.
‘I wasn’t actually that interested in photography or indeed, anything artistic at all!’ he reflects.
‘I first went to Japan in 2017 as a tourist, and just before heading out, as a last-minute thought, I decided to pick up a small pointand-shoot camera, something better than a smartphone.’
His first camera was a Sony RX100 and everything just clicked. ‘When I was out in Japan, I loved using the Sony, and showing the pictures to my family. It all started off from there, really… you could say I fell in love with photography.’
Japan continues to fascinate westerners, whether it’s the traditional culture of samurai, Zen temples and woodblocks, or more contemporary attractions such as anime and the vast digital culture. For Eren, it was something more personal.
Childhood connections
‘When I was growing up, my parents used to offer accommodation to students and many were from Japan. So when I was still quite a young child, I was always surrounded by Japanese culture. Often the students were with us for quite a long time, for the duration of their studies. They’d bring back these wonderful gifts, so it sparked a fascination with Japanese culture and anime.’
Eren’s first trip, back in 2017, was originally supposed to be for two weeks, but he loved it so much that the trip was extended to nearly two months. ‘They do these great rail passes, where you can get halfway
across the country on a day trip, which is kind of crazy. I went to the usual spots, such as Tokyo and Kyoto, which was my first introduction to the country.’
Schlepping around Japan as a wide-eyed tourist is one thing, but then getting a book commission is a huge leap. How did this come about?
Art of the deal
‘So from 2017, I started posting on social media and building up a following on Instagram,’ Eren explains. ‘Then, pretty randomly, a publisher from Chicago called Trope contacted me. They wanted to publish a book on London in collaboration with 14 other photographers. While working on that, we agreed that Japan would be a really interesting subject and it all started from that. Though when I first saw the email from
Trope I thought it was spam!’
At the time of the commission, Eren’s Instagram audience was about 30,000, but it’s subsequently grown rapidly.
Intimidating at rst
While Eren is a confident and outgoing, streetwise young Londoner, he admits to having been a bit intimidated by the commission at first. ‘I’d only been seriously into photography for about two years at that point, it was almost overwhelming. I kept thinking, “This is too early”. The team at Trope was great, however, and they were very experienced with photography books, so it was a pretty seamless process.’
What makes Across Japan different can be gleaned from the title. ‘Lots of photography books just focus on Tokyo or Kyoto,’ Eren explains. ‘My book goes chapter by chapter through the different regions, from the south, right up to the north. It was focusing on the lesser-seen and lesser-known parts of the country, as well as the people.
‘I was just amazed by the variety of Japan. Up in the north, in Hokkaido, it can be snowing, while in the south it’s sub-tropical. For example, I went down to an island called Yakushima in Kagoshima, where it pretty much rains every day – it’s almost like a rain forest. Then you have somewhere like Nagano, which is really mountainous.’
Fukushima surprise
Another big discovery was Fukushima, still best known for the tragic nuclear accident of 2011, which had been triggered by a tsunami and earthquake – it was the most serious nuclear incident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. ‘Once I got there I was blown away by how beautiful it was and the amazing colours. It’s like an area