Kazuyoshi Shimomura hates Ayu.

[yuki_unmei]

i wonder, did he first act out the lingerie scene she did in MW?.....

[tomiko8]

i have to admit ive been out of the jpop loop for a couple of months now but when i came back and saw the coveres to sunrise/ sunset i thought it was A, either a sick joke or B, a fancover i hoped for the later and got the prior. who in the wold gave this man the green light on doing Ayu's photoshoots im surprised that she stood for such low quality work.

[love in music]

in the 'fishy face practice' photo she was with ND CHOW though, one of her better photographers~

and ia gothicayu, we don't know if kazu shot those alive/physical thing covers but seeing her facial expression in that pic gave it away to me, if someone else shot them i'd be surprised. the FREAKY covers were by him too and that mouth is just.. ugh x_x

this is also another facial expression i notice in photos with him.. it has mostly taken over kuu's photo shoots with him and bugs the hell out of me. it looks like they're about to drool. i do wonder if he encourages it because in photo shoots with other photographers kuu never or rarely makes that face - just with him.

Spoiler:

[gothicayu]

yes there is huge similarities. honestly i didnt like the a best 2 cover with her open mouth , that exact same pose would have been better with a close mouth. that expression is so unatural . nobody pose opening their mouth like that naturally.

and an other thing is why ayu looks so serious recently on the cd cover. she is so cute when she laugh and smile . i d love to see a cd cover with a happy ayu lauthing or smiling.
it seems since talking to myself she have an open mouth photoshoot it starting to be extremely repeating.

i loved her cover on H and & why not more fun photoshoot like that ?and she looks so natural , like she was having fun but those serious face seems kinda depress recently.

even in vivi deiji i think the pictures are a lot more fun and beautiful than those open mouth photoshoot

[sakumadrops]

^ in my opinion the abest2 picture is better than the honda... the honda one she's like "hmmph!" ABEST2 looks great what r u guys on? XD

[love in music]

i hate the A BEST 2 covers.. i think they're her worst to date. yes, even worse than sunrise/sunset lol.

@ gothicayu i agree with you too! she looks so cute when she's smiling, it's just natural (except for (miss)understood cover). even though most people thought the CD+DVD of glitter/fated was ugly where she's smiling, i thought it was really cute

[emi♡]

I don't see very many similarities between those two pictures besides them both being close ups of her face.

They're very different styles. And she obviously looks a lot better in one.

You know what...the A BEST covers are worse than sunrise...I kinda forget they exist.

[ayu_ready?]

Kuuchan's Alive Single covers were shot by Kazu

[Deep snow]

Originally Posted by ayu_ready?

Kuuchan's Alive Single covers were shot by Kazu

WOW! really? see? what's happening here? why do Kumi's covers always look so grandeur? does ayu herself not want her covers to look that way? ughh Kumi always has such beautiful covers!!

[Deep snow]

wow, Shimoko did Kumi's Kingdom and 3 SPLASH covers? they're gorgeous! I never knew he could do good shots!
what happened then? how come Shimoko's shots for ayu are always not-as-good (seeing Kingdom and 3 SPLASH)? IMO there's a serious lack of quality in A BEST 2 and A COMPLETE covers, the only covers I like from Shimoko is Mirrorcle World, the CD+DVD long ones to be precise. the others are just meh.

and he's also directing ayu's PVs now, my God! how more fugly can ayu PVs get?! maybe she's cutting budgets for promotions, but that would be crazy, seeing her declining sales IMO. ayu should seriously contact her old directors back, i.e. Wataru Takeishi, Hideaki Sunaga, Tetsuo Inoue, and Kouki Tange (oh, more Tange PVs please!!!) and she should STOP working with Takahide Ishii and Shimoko.

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by ayu_ready?

Kuuchan's Alive Single covers were shot by Kazu

Yes. We have more or less (unfortunately so, though) established the fact that Kazu can be a decent photographer, depending on who he works with.

Sometimes I feel like... he's fire. I mean he's really "forward", aggressive... full of concepts and ideas. Well, that isn't bad.

But Ayu's like air to me. She already has her own aura of beauty and elegance, but like air, she just flows to wherever the "idea" is. She's so gorgeous, but with fires like Kazu, she just blends in with his style and becomes someone else. Look at all her TA photos... the way she just stands there smiling and all... she rarely does this in Kazu shots. It feels like she wants to be the models that Kazu works with... which isn't good for her imo.

And Kuu is another fire to me. I feel like while Kazu yells out his 'FISH FACE, C'MON!', Kuu uses that idea and adapts it to her own sexy style, that's just beautiful.

So... I guess Kuu + Kazu = good combo, but Ayu + Kazu = yuck.

Conclusion: Ayu, change your photographer asap. You don't work well with him, end of story.

P.S: I've watched the making of Sparkle (finally!)... wow he's pretty disgusting to me, but at least I LOL-ed quite a few times.

[emi♡]

^he's very flamboyant isnt he lol

[waterballoon]

^ So ott and dramatic, but I like how Ayu laughs at with him! She's so adorable while doing that!

[koumori]

~~ Bit late in the discussion, but whateverr xD

I think the Sunrise/Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~ covers were like...:/ I've got used to the CD only cover now but it still looks like she randomly just walked onto a random photoshoot, looked at the camera and then they took the picture >< I would of liked stronger colours, a different outfit, a better background editor and maybe some originality...

The Mirrorcle World and days/GREEN shoots were okay, I like them ^^ Her hair, poses and makeup are flawless in those photos and the poses are beautiful. I didn't know Kazu took them...X_X;

I agree with Waterballoon though, he does work better than Kuu and maybe it's because she does the whole 'sexy' thing better; Ayu is more a innocent, 'dreamy' beauty (She can do 'sexy' but not all the time ^0^) and maybe that's why she looks so out-of-place in Kazu's shoots..

I hope she gets a new photographer for the next photoshoot >o>;

[Andrenekoi]

I still think that the problem is the image Ayu fans have of her, and not really the shots...

[emi♡]

Really?

Even when she looks really awful? What's the image fans have of her that causes them to hate the photos?

Because honestly, there are really some that are just really bad pieces of photography.

i.e. NEXT LEVEL covers.

[Kingdom]

Originally Posted by emiko

Really?

Even when she looks really awful? What's the image fans have of her that causes them to hate the photos?

Because honestly, there are really some that are just really bad pieces of photography.

i.e. NEXT LEVEL covers.

yeah, i don't think it has any thing to do with her fan's image of her lol

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by emiko

Really?

Even when she looks really awful? What's the image fans have of her that causes them to hate the photos?

Because honestly, there are really some that are just really bad pieces of photography.

i.e. NEXT LEVEL covers.

I don't see anything wrong with Next Level covers... Not saying everyone should love them, nobody MUST love love anything, but... No problem with them...

[ExodusUK]

Originally Posted by emi♡

Really?

Even when she looks really awful? What's the image fans have of her that causes them to hate the photos?

Because honestly, there are really some that are just really bad pieces of photography.

i.e. NEXT LEVEL covers.

Yup those were awful, the photoshopped frizzy hair eek

[Delicious n Bold]

Who?

Lol that's all I got.