Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

By Eagle Omomuro

20 October, 2025

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One Shot Story

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Portrait Photography
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This was in 2015, the same year I began the project Nansensu. A local TV celebrity came across my early work. She asked me to make something ‘darker than boudoir’, something private to hold as a memory of her youth.

Later I realized that was merely an excuse.

She stepped into a pre-booked Japanese washitsu with her Chanel perfume lingering in the air. In one fluid sequence she turned her back to me, kicked off her Valentino heels, let her Burberry trench coat and pantyhose slide from her body, stripped away every piece of jewelry but a single ring on her index finger, then slipped into a yukata, tightened the obi, and knelt before me. All in minutes, her warmth seeped into the unheated room. All so smooth, as if she had done this a thousand times before.

That’s her, a self she could not show in public. And that was what she wanted my photos to preserve for herself.

In front of her audience, she was polished and marketable. She lived on money, fame, and recognition from friends and colleagues, from sponsors and fans, from rivals, from young men who worshiped her and from young women who envied her.

But here, she dressed as a pretend geisha. Tattoos revealed themselves across her back. Lovely toes folded under her, as if offering submission, while her expression held a distance that kept me outside. I saw an elegant body inviting and resisting at the same time.

She wasn’t a geisha, of course. But in the act of pretending she revealed another side of herself, a side hidden behind masks of performance and expectation. That, to me, is where photography stopped being documentation. It became a mirror. A mirror for a hidden self, the one that slips between who we are and who we appear to be in others’ eyes.

P.S. At the time she agreed this image could be shown without her name, since her identify isn’t recognizable in the frame.

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About The Author

By Eagle Omomuro
Hello 35mmc community. I'm a photographer who tries to explore the unconventional. Originally trained in professional photojournalism, I’ve shifted my focus to capturing moments that express raw emotions that I call Tanha and Dukkha. My current direction is inspired by Ero Guro Nansensu, a Japanese genre that blends eroticism, sexual corruption, and decadence. Feel free to explore my work at nansensu.com.au
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Comments

Gary Smith on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 20/10/2025

Interesting story Eagle. Cool photo!
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 20/10/2025

Hey Gary! Always enjoy when you join the chat.

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ivan mendez on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 20/10/2025

increible historia y que buena narrativa su perfume me llego hasta aqui....
Saludos a todos desde Santo Domingo DR

pd

no more pics ??
love to see more
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 20/10/2025

Muchas gracias, Iván. Me alegra mucho que te haya llegado el “perfume” desde tan lejos. Un saludo grande hasta Santo Domingo.

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Dave Powell on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 20/10/2025

What a lovely story, pose and photo, Eagle. Even the grain is fetching!
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 20/10/2025

Thank you Dave. Yes I love the grain too.

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David Pauley on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

A very compelling story and gorgeous photo, Eagle. Thanks for sharing both!
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

Thank you David. Happy to know you enjoyed the story.

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Geoff Chaplin on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

My experiences in Japan are unbelievably mundane in comparison. Maybe that's a reflection of me? ..... Yes, it definitely is.

Powerful story and image.
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

Thank you, Geoff. I’m not surprised by your reflection at all. Some places are so layered that perspective changes everything. I watched a Youtube short last week by a Japanese shain working in a big company, showing his routine that felt painfully repetitive and hopeless. He said no one wants a date, marriage, or child in such a depressing environment. And I truely agreed with one comment under it, 'This video is far better than those brainless claiming that Japan is 50 years ahead of the world.'

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Charles Young on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

NANSENSU

ナンセンス

Actually just an English loan word!
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

Yes it is. Thank you for stopping by, Charles.

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Russ Rosener on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

A beautiful and mysterious image. You described it well in that it seems so intimate, I want to look away, to avoid guilty feelings of voyeurism. Even though I know I cannot deny the command to look.

Also be sure to secure very specific written model releases. Even in images you have a verbal agreement for. Sadly I know this from personal experience.
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

Thank you, Russ. And yes, 'guilty feelings of voyeurism' is probably the most accurate description of that emotion. I really appreciate you putting it into words. As a photographer, that kind of almost-evil curiosity can be a strong drive, especially when the model was never a friend of mine. But once that curiosity is satisfied, when I know someone too well and everything becomes just ordinary, it can feel painfully boring. I mentioned that in a previous story 'The Shape of Loneliness'. It’s a contradiction: how desire and fascination can’t survive once something becomes too well-known.

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David Hume on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

Hi Eagle - Great stuff. As I've mentioned before, when you first posted here I took the time to have a look at your website, which helped me understand the work better and place it context. I'm glad I did that, as it makes your posts here more nuanced to me. This story in particular resonated more to me with that knowledge. I can see this - words/text - as a spread in a book of your work. We've also discussed how you're in Tassie and the situation with developing/scanning there. I'd only say be sure to hang on to all your negs and scans for future post-processing if you ever want to. I can see this shot also woking with rich blacks and a bit more contrast. If you want to flick me a file to play with I'd be happy to do so. All the best.
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

Thank you, David. I really appreciate your offer. The biggest challenge for me has been that, even after almost a decade here in Tasmania, I still haven’t managed to break through the cultural barrier to present a local model in my way. The connection between myself, the people, and the everyday life around me still feels somewhat distant, and that disconnection can be frustrating. That’s one of the reasons I admire your work so much. It’s all about what’s right here, but interpreted in such a distilled way. That’s what I call a masterpiece.

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Leon Winnert on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

You have a way with words and camera sir. Lovely piece. Thanks
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Eagle Omomuro replied:

Comment posted: 21/10/2025

Thank you, Leon. I really appreciate your words.

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Ibraar Hussain on Pretend Geisha – One Shot Story

Comment posted: 24/10/2025

Lovely photo
Everything just perfectly balanced
It seems like a movie still
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