John Paul Foster is an American photographer based in Kyoto (Japan), specializing in images of traditional Japanese culture, including Geisha, Maiko, and Buddhist icons.

John has achieved something that very few photographers have had the possibility to achieve, and witness; with grace, respect and bringing his perfect "distance" he managed to enter the world of Geisha and Maiko, an almost sacred realm, where nobody is allowed.

His precious portraits have captured not only the beauty of these women but also those private "behind the scenes" moments of makeup, dressing up and painstakingly accurate preparation necessary to transform a normal girl into an icon.
This is a lifetime achievement for a photographer, something possible just after earning the trust of a very private community and, most of all, sustaining that trust with honesty, professionalism and an attention to details that pairs the one of the makings of a Geisha.

My collaboration with John started with an edit for the proposal of his book "Now a Geisha" to publishers; right after that, we proceeded to the real edit, for which we selected and sequenced the best images but also extensively worked on the possible book structure.

The book is based on the "transformation" of three different girls from Maiko into Geisha and for each girl I had at my disposal a huge choice of beautiful staged portraits and more spontaneous shots of the "in the making" process.

Watching the pictures for the first time, I knew I had a complex task ahead, which was finding a way to adjust two very different styles of photography; a fine-art, iconic style of portraiture with the documentary one of make-up, kimono dressing up, ceremonies... But my main challenge came out later, during the edit: I had to select very similar pictures and moments for all three girls without being repetitive, while making sure to remain faithful to the main "before and after" theme.

The approach that John and I eventually chose has been in the direction of changing the rhythm in each chapter, so that for each we were able to show what we wanted without being predictable; from sequencing all three girls side to side in the Intro, to going deeper in the transformation process one girl at a time, we mixed the elements, the styles, the colours without losing perspective of the gradual transformation as a whole.

I've recently received the final print of "Now a Geisha" and turning its pages after many months made me very proud; not only for having worked on a beautiful book, but because it made me feel like I have somehow been a witness myself of something special and rare, and part of a secret world to which, for a moment, I have been granted access.

John has been so kind to share with me his thoughts on our work together on this book:

"I had the pleasure of working with Raffaela twice on my book "Now a Geisha". The first time was to select and sequence images for the book proposal (30 photos), and the second was to edit and sequence the entire book, which ended up being about 190 photos.

I had never worked with a photo editor before, so I wasn't sure I would be happy with the results. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. I felt at ease with Raffaela from our first conversation on Skype. More importantly, our conversations and Raffaela's detailed messages gave me new perspectives and ways of thinking about my images -- and this was before I had even seen her edits! This feedback was a tremendous help to me as I thought about the book's structure.

One of the things Raffaela said that has stayed with me is that editing and sequencing photographs are a kind of alchemy. I believe this to be true, and I also believe that Raffaela Lepanto is an alchemist of the highest order. I look forward to marvelling at her magic again soon as I begin work on my next book!"