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Portraits Of A Daughter On 'Magic Road'

Toyokazu Nagano has become a bit of a Flickr star. Or, rather, his daughter has. His ongoing series of portraits has appeared on Life magazine's Tumblr feed, and we just had to know more about his charismatic daughter, Kanna.

"When I started, I was taking photos with a camera in order to keep family memories," Nagano explains in an email. "But I now take photos to create family memories."

Nagano starts with a concept and prepares outfits and props. He then takes Kanna to what he describes as an "agricultural road" near their house in Japan — and what many of his Flickr fans have affectionately dubbed "magic road." There really are fans: People who have watched little Kanna grow over the past two years — from this to this.

Because Kanna is only 3, she does not always understand his directions, so Nagano makes faces at her, which she imitates for the camera.

"[Kanna] is a large actress who demands a very big performance fee," Nagano writes. She enjoys the photo shoots, he says — though occasionally he rewards her with sweets.

"I hope that these pictures will remind my daughters of fun memories when they grow up. ... At the same time, I would like not only my family, but also people all over the world to enjoy my family photos," Nagano writes.

Recently, Kanna has been interested in taking photographs herself, and Nagano jokes that we may see photos of him posed with interesting outfits in the near future.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.