work overview — REBECKA WOLFE

An overview.

I cut my photographic teeth as a teenager in the early 2000s, taking compact film cameras to punk and hardcore shows in Essex and London. I moved to Brighton at eighteen, continuing to photograph and review live music, band tours and tattoo conventions.

After graduating from the University of Sussex with a BA (Hons) in Media Practice and Theory (majoring in photography) in 2012, I completed a CELTA certificate and moved to Kathmandu, Nepal, to teach English to novice monks at a Buddhist monastery within the city. In 2014, I moved to rural Japan to work as an English teacher.

After eighteen months of English teaching, first in the countryside and then in metropolitan Osaka, I settled in Kyoto city and started working as a tour guide. From leading tours, I moved on to designing them, using photography and creative writing to create engaging copy for my employers’ websites and brochures.

A year later, I secured funding to launch an independent tour provider on behalf of a Japanese investor who wished to break into Kyoto’s growing inbound tourism industry. I was responsible for everything; web design, copy, images, creation of tour packages and pricing, training tour guides and leading private tours (all of which garnered five star reviews).

I also worked as an associate tour guide for the Four Seasons Hotel in Kyoto city, creating and leading private itineraries for guests. In this role, I was able to apply my growing knowledge of Kyoto’s unique culture to the specific interests of clients, offering experiences of subtlety and nuance, away from the buzzing crowds at the city’s most popular (and over-touristed) sites.

Wanting to leverage an in-depth understanding of 'lesser-known’ Japan to work with a larger organisation, I joined an international destination management company as they launched new offices in Kyoto. Although officially a reservations coordinator, I was also the team’s photographer, copywriter, health and safety compliance inspector, product developer, translator, event coordinator and long-tour leader. Unfortunately, large overseas tour providers showed little interest in sharing the complexities of Japanese craft and culture with their passengers. For them, the ‘golden route’ of Tokyo-Kyoto-Hiroshima was too entrenched; too easy and profitable. Seeing the city I loved become commodified, overburdened and ‘Disney-fied’, I left the job, and left Japan shortly after.

During my three years in Kyoto, I also worked as a freelance photographer, both privately and through an agency. My work involved creating customised private tours for guests, and serving as their personal photographer during my time with them. I was fortunate to have been an aide to many pivotal moments; many of my guests wanted to plan surprise engagements, and needed my knowledge of Kyoto’s most atmospheric (and little-known) locations to create otherworldly atmospheres. I photographed couples, families, and solo female travellers, and each new encounter enabled me to better understand what people want from a destination-based travel experience.

Immediately after returning from Japan, I secured a commission to write thirty articles about life and travel within the country. The brief was open, and I was able to explore uncommon topics, such as gentrification and development in southern Osaka, abandoned military islands, and shrines piled high with uncanny legions of discarded dolls.

My five years in Japan were a catalyst in learning about the value of heritage, craft, culture and locality, and what can be found when searching in the shadows. I came to understand the value of the handmade over the mass-produced; of folk stories over pop culture, and of heritage over the endless pursuit of the ‘next big thing.’

In 2021, two years after returning to England, and wanting to better understand critical approaches to image-making, I began a Master’s degree in Photography at the University of the West of England. This provided the ideal opportunity to explore fine-art and narrative photography, offering breathing space from commercially considered images. In 2022, wishing also to gain practical skills in growing, I enrolled on an RHS Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture. I graduated from both programs in the summer of 2023, before returning to Japan for three months to complete an artist’s residency and a second commission for travel writing and photography.

Now, I spend my time working on personal photographic projects, visiting quieter corners of Britain and Europe in search of folk art and vernacular architecture, and working on a freelance basis as a writer and photographer. My subject areas include horticulture, interest-specific travel, art and artist-makers, and location and place-based works.