Tokyo photographer Natsumi Hayashi’s self-portraits are so whimsical and unforgettable that they’re sparking an Internet sensation and garnering attention all over the globe. What makes them so unusual? Well, for starters, in each photograph Hayashi appears to be levitating.
She achieves this state of mid-air wizardry by jumping up and down. A lot.
“Sometimes I need to jump more than 300 times to get the perfect shot,” she explained. “I set the camera with the shutter speed of 1/500 second or faster to freeze my jumping movement.”
It can take Hayashi anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes to get the right shot. Sometimes she works alone and relies on a self-timer; in other instances, she asks a friend to come along and press the shutter.
