By Editor Michel Romaggi in collaboration with the author Moucron 
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 17th of September 2025 

‘Silver lining in the sky’

Dear Rio, thank you very much for answering my questions and sharing more information about your work, particularly your outstanding image titled Silver Lining in the Sky. Could you please tell us about the different steps that led to this brilliant result?

The shoot took place in Toranomon, Tokyo. It is a recently opened high-rise complex featuring a hotel, offices and commercial facilities. While many development projects were forced to delay or alter their plans due to the pandemic, this project managed to open as scheduled. The idea is to symbolize hope for a future beyond adversity by placing a person within the building. The building will be slightly abstracted using long exposure photography and composited with a portrait shot with the same composition.

On the day of the shoot, the temperature reached an abnormally high level, which is symbolic of this summer. I wanted to use this increasingly common abnormal weather, which causes anxiety about the future, as inspiration for my photography.

My camera: Sony α7IV, with a Sony FE 20mm F1.8G lens.
Settings for the building: ND1000 filter for a 10-stop reduction, f/22, 31sec, ISO 100
Settings for the person: f/20, 1/30sec, ISO 100

The post-processing plan is as follows:
1. Apply a vertical blur to the buildings to emphasize hope for the future.

2. Overlay reddish-brown tones centered on the figures to express the abnormal heatwave.

3. Leave elements of unease alongside hope in the sky and clouds. In other words, the main post-processing task is to composite three elements: a long-exposure photo of the buildings, a blurred version of that and a photo of the figures within the same composition. This is achieved by adjusting the areas preserved through masking.

4. The initial version, after post-processing, had a subdued colour palette that conveyed a sense of unease rather than hope for the future.
To refine it into the final version, I adjusted the layered colours, saturation, brightness and contrast, and applied a slight softening effect to the highlights.

You chose the category street photographs, but you applied a lot of post-processing to them. Could you tell us what you are trying to convey?

I often photograph buildings and structures alongside people. Massive architecture symbolizes technology, culture and the history of a place, so including people in the shot makes it easier to tell a story. With this piece, I wanted to convey the positive expectations for the future that the new skyscraper signifies, as well as the underlying anxiety behind them. To achieve this, I edited the image to align the vertical momentum, brilliance, sky tone and surrounding atmosphere with the intended message. I wrestled with the balance between hope and anxiety until the very end. Ultimately, I believe I leaned more towards hope.

'Strolling under the blazing sun'

'Miscommunication'

Regarding your titles, are they created before or after the shoot? In other words, are you trying to convey a particular emotion, or do you use your titles to interpret your images?

As I'm not a native English speaker, I always struggle with titles. For this piece, I had a predetermined shooting concept and wanted the title to relate to future expectations. I'm glad I found the phrase 'silver lining', which matches this work's message perfectly. Sometimes I take photos without much thought and later come up with interpretations and titles, but most of the time I prepare a shooting concept beforehand. Sometimes I include musical imagery in the concept, and when that works well, I'll use the musical piece's title directly.

‘Living in fantasy’

'Vague memory’

To conclude this enjoyable conversation, please introduce yourself and tell us how photography fits into your life.

My name as a photographer is Moucorn. I primarily support clients' business transformations, and I am not a professional photographer. For me, photography is a way of interpreting and expressing the world. I find joy in discovering stories in the world around me, interpreting them and recreating them to capture their essence. This experience has a positive influence on both my work and other areas of my life.

I would like to express my gratitude to the friend who appeared in Silver Lining in the Sky. Her natural and striking expression undoubtedly gave this piece tremendous power.

Thank you all for reading the commentary on my work and photography. It would be my greatest pleasure if you found it even slightly useful.

Thank you, dear Rio ...