kitamuratakumi

[kitamuratakumi]

Nanning, 1995 Nanning, Guangxi, China. 中国 広西 南寧市 西郷塘区 西郷塘市場 Photography by Michitaka Kurata

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[kitamuratakumi]

田植えの傍をゆく

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2007/02/17

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Country roads in Japan

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I want to go camping

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Illustrations for the song "Why Me?" from Yerin Baek's album Love, Yerin (선물) by artist seongryul

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[kitamuratakumi]

[kitamuratakumi]

[kitamuratakumi]

good morning nara

2014 , graphic identity

Editor in chief: Nobuhiro Maeda(SEED’S CREATE Inc.) Editor: MUESUM Cover photo: Madoka Akiyama Photo: Yoshiro Masuda / Kazuki Watanabe Illustration: Tadashi Nishiwaki Publisher: SEED’S CREATE Inc.

[kitamuratakumi]

Hi, kids,

Remember it's okay to not want to do your hobby as a job. It's okay to not want to sell the things that you make. It's okay if you want to make art without taking commissions.

It's fine to completely lose enjoyment in something if you're doing it for money. It's fine to say, "I don't like doing this when I have to do it," and to just never do it.

You don't need to make your hobbies pay for themselves. You don't need to turn professional or semi-professional. You can love the freedom of starting something when you want, working on it when you want, and finishing it (or not finishing it) when you want. If you find that taking that away makes you not love the thing, that's just a lesson that you've learned. It's not a failing. It doesn't mean you're not dedicated to your art or your craft. It doesn't mean you're not doing it right.

Not everything needs to be a business. Not everything needs to have financial worth.

While we're at it, you don't need to be good at a hobby to want to do it. You don't need to have a goal of improving. If you get a guitar and you love playing it, but never get beyond cowboy chords and 4-chord songs, you're still valid. You don't have to be the best in the world to have it have worth. Your grandma's chicken enchilada recipe isn't going to rank in the top 100 enchiladas ever, but you still love them and enjoy them and they taste great. Maybe your doll faceup isn't going to look like a youtube tutorial's did, but if you liked making it, that doesn't matter.

But it's also totally fine to do things just for the response you get from other people. If you're only updating that fic because you have nine dedicated readers who want to know how it ends, that doesn't mean you're not dedicated to the story.

"This is just something I like doing," is enough. It doesn't need to be a job, or something you're good at, or a labor of love, or an otherworldly calling from a holy being. You can just make things. You can just do things. It's okay.

[kitamuratakumi]

毎週たのしみだよ〜かわいいよ〜

[kitamuratakumi]

A couple stops to rest and take in the immense view, while hiking through the Swiss Alps. Switzerland 1984

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[kitamuratakumi]

Shanghai, 2000 Shanghai, China. 中国 上海市 Photography by Michitaka Kurata

[kitamuratakumi]

Hong Kong, 2003 Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. 香港 九龍 紅磡 Photography by Michitaka Kurata