Yōhei Sawamura Photo Book “10”


I want to be a hero.
I don’t need to defeat evil, but I want to be someone’s hero.
Like a manga protagonist—doing what I love and still having my friends follow me.
That’s the kind of man I want to be.

“10” is a 240‑page photo book created to commemorate Yōhei Sawamura’s 10th anniversary since he began photographing, tracing his journey over the years.
He considers 2015—the year he first picked up a camera—as his “Point Zero,” and the book compiles photographs taken from that year through 2025, arranged chapter by chapter, one year at a time.
The book also includes generous text in which Sawamura writes openly about his experiences and inner thoughts, such as:

- The day he bought his first camera at age 30
- The dream of becoming a professional—one he repeatedly told himself was “not easy” and kept shutting away
- The fear and resolve he felt at 34 when he decided to make photography his life
- The realization that he had stopped bringing out his own strengths
- The story behind creating Kyoto Boys, born from a desire to protect many things he cared about
- His wish to give back to Kyoto, photography, and coffee shops
- And the “true likes” he finally reclaimed for himself

Sawamura also expresses, with honesty and vulnerability, the parts of himself he says he is revealing “for the first time” in this book.