Ulysses Aoki is a Japanese and American photographer based in Tokyo. He grew up in Japan, with an American upbringing through his father, who is from the United States. He came to photography fairly late. He started with portraits of friends and organised shoots before he moved to candid photography on the street.
He is best known for candid colour photography of Tokyo. His pictures play with strong colours, shapes and contrast, and he likes to leave space for questions in his compositions. He chose colour in part because so many Japanese street photographers work in black and white. His solo exhibition Scenes Left Behind was shown at the Kitamura Camera flagship store in Shinjuku, and he has worked with brands such as UNIQLO. He works mostly with Leica cameras.
Alongside photography he has worked for about ten years as a sustainability professional and runs a small sustainability company. He also shares his thoughts on photography, art and living as an artist through his YouTube channel and his newsletter.
