Inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night, this photograph captures fallen leaves floating on water, deliberately softened in focus so that one leaf appears like a small moon within a blue current. The moon-like leaf represents quiet conviction. Though surrounded by movement and almost carried away by the flow, it keeps its own presence and colors the light in its own way. For me, the image expresses the fragile strength of preserving one’s inner truth while being pulled by the values and sensibilities of the surrounding world.
Yuya Taki is a self-taught photographer who began photography in 2020. His work uses blue tones, water, and abstraction to express sorrow, memory, and emotional transition. He creates images as quiet emotional refuges, exploring how melancholy can gently meet and transform another form of sadness. In 2026, he was selected for the Photography Section of the 100th Anniversary Kokuten Exhibition, one of Japan’s major open-call art exhibitions.