The stunning floral images presented here are the work of Ogawa Kazumasa, a Japanese photographer, printer, and publisher known for his pioneering work in photomechanical printing and photography during the Meiji era. After studying photography at fifteen, Ogawa moved to Tokyo at twenty to further his studies and improve his English. After opening his own photography studio, Ogawa decided to travel to the United States to learn firsthand the most advanced photographic techniques of the time. With limited financial resources, Ogawa managed to secure a job as a sailor on the USS Swatara and landed in Washington six months later. Over the next two years, spent between Boston and Philadelphia, Ogawa studied printing techniques, including the complex collotype process, which would become his trademark upon his return to Japan.
In 1884, Ogawa opened a photography studio in Tokyo and in 1888 founded a dry-plate manufacturing company. The following year, the first Japanese printing house specializing in collotype, "K. Ogawa Printing," opened. He also served as editor for several photography magazines, which printed using the collotype technique, and was a founding member of the Japan Photographic Society.
The exquisite hand-colored floral collotypes presented here were published in the 1896 book "Some Japanese Flowers."
