By Lisa Kayastha
Maria Elizabeth Thomas, a fourth-year APS student from India recently won the Swadesh DeRoy Memorial Scholarship with her striking portrayals of the LGBTQ+ community in Beppu. The scholarship by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan awards excellence in media. Maria, who identifies as a queer cisgender woman, has taken photos of drag queens and trans women in Beppu, men embracing feminine fashion, and illustrated queer love stories. She describes her winning experience as ‘life-changing.’ In this article, she has shared her detailed journey from starting photography to winning this scholarship.
Beginning of her photography journey
Maria first got into photography at the age of 16. At the time, it was trendy using polaroid cameras. She had been asking her father to get a polaroid camera for her, but it was quite expensive.
Her journey with photography began as a hobby after she eventually convinced her parents to get her a polaroid camera. She would document her friends and family with her polaroid. Later when she came to Japan, she discovered disposable cameras. As she did not have money to buy a big camera at the time, she used to buy disposable cameras and took landscape photos whenever she would travel.
“I was scared of taking portrait photos because people depend on you to make them look good and it is a lot of pressure, so I felt like taking pictures of landscapes was easier.”
First big step in photography
The first time she got an opportunity to show her real talent as a photographer was in 2020 when she took a class called Media production lab with Professor Peter Mantello. Through the class, she got the opportunity to rent out cameras from APU’s media department. At the time, Maria was doing assignments for the class, which included making their own photo series about anything they are passionate about and present that as their final project.
Maria took photos for her final project for her class which she felt was good enough to apply for a scholarship. As she did not have fancy equipment, she did not really have any expectations when applying. Later in March, she was announced as the winner.
Her reaction to winning the scholarship? Shocked, disbelief, and a sense of achievement. She knew she had worked hard for this, and it was self-affirming because she was not sure if she was being self-biased thinking it was good or if her photography was actually good.
“Being validated was a good feeling.”
This experience also changed her parent
ts’ perception of what scholarships are supposed to be like as they thought that it only rewards academic merit, but they learned that it could go beyond that. Finding out that their daughter won such a huge prize was definitely a proud moment for them.
Maria described the sweet reaction of her parents saying, “They were humble-bragging to their friends.”
Now that she has the scholarship, she is finally able to have savings. Maria says she can prepare for her future after graduation which gives her a sense of financial independence. Before coming to Japan she had to take a student loan, and get financial support from her father.
“I had this burden on myself where I thought that I was making my father work harder than he should. I wanted my father to have a break because he deserves it, but he never had a break. So, the best thing is now I can put my fathers’ mind at ease.”
At the moment, Maria is currently doing a lot of internships within the social media and marketing sector, and she hopes to continue in this field in the future. Her ideal job would be to work in a media company as a freelance photographer not just for the LGTBQ+ community, but also for any marginalized group.
“It is very hard to break into the photography space in Japan, especially being a foreigner and woman, but I am determined to make it possible. I want photography to be a medium through which people feel represented.”
She hopes to apply for the scholarship again with all the photos that she took this year. If she ends up winning again, she wants to invest in better equipment and fund her traveling.
“I think it is time for me to move and go to other cities as well so that I can photograph more for the community I am interested in, which is LGBTQ+ spaces.”
Walking through her photography process
One of Maria's most notable photo series was the black and white photo series at a snack bar in Beppu.
She got to know about the snack bar from one of her friends in January of 2020.
“The mood inside the bar was very relaxed. They even have a big bright neon sign outside and a website for this bar as well. So, it is not like anything secretive,” said Maria describing the mood inside the bar.
(Photo: Inside the snack bar)
At the bar, there were a lot of trans women from all over the world who left behind their jobs back home because it didn’t pay well. They now work in Beppu as cabaret dancers. She went in with the idea of just photographing their actual performance, but she eventually asked permission from the bar owner to go backstage. The owner said yes, and they let her go backstage and photograph the dancers as they were getting ready for their performance.
“They were super open. That is one thing about the queer community that I have noticed, they are very open to accepting anyone from the outside who is curious about them,” Maria says.
This experience made her realize that the LGBTQIA+ community is very accepting, and it helped build her confidence.
Her aim for this project was to document people’s lives and to tell their stories. She wanted to show that this is the type of life that most people here lead and it is beautiful and colorful.
(Photo: Backstage in the bar)
“I purposely chose to take all the photos in black and white because the personality of each person would shine through strongly enough that it did not even need to be in color. There is a subtle beauty in capturing people in black and white and which lets the subject speak for itself.”
Word of advice
Every person who has won or achieved something in life has gone through their own struggles and obstacles which people normally do not see. Achievements do not come solely, experience and lessons come along with them. Similarly, Maria did not only win the scholarship, but she also learned valuable lessons, gained self-confidence and a positive outlook to her creativity in photography.
“Do not be ashamed of the fact that you do not have fancy equipment or even the means to photograph independently. Do not let that be an obstacle or hinder your creativity. You have to believe in your idea and the capability to execute your idea. Help will find itself and come along the way,” says Maria.
She wants to continue to document people’s lives. She has created her own online portfolio where people can check out her photography and book an appointment with her as well. She has now been specializing in documentary-style portrait photography so people can book an appointment for a shoot.
Sincerest appreciation to Maria for sharing with us her journey and achievement.
Find Maria on:
Maria’s Instagram: @mariaandhercamera
Link to her online portfolio: https://mannatom6.wixsite.com/mariaelizabeththomas
All the photos above belong to Maria.
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