The Power of Serendipity—and saying 'Yes'

The defining moment in Saya's Australian career actually occurred in Tokyo. HE was eating a sandwich outside a Family Mart when a stranger approached him. They exchanged only a few words due the language barrier—but swapped contacts. Weeks later, that same man introduced him to a group of creatives, including a designer and model who asked: Would he shoot their lookbook? He had never shot fashion. But he said yes.

“We met in Harajuku. They styled the model, I shot on the street. It wasn’t about being perfect. It was about the moment,” Saya recalls. Something about that chaotic, collaborative rush lit something within Saya. “That was it. That was the feeling.” Back home, Saya chased that energy. He reached out to aspiring models, did TFP shoots, and built momentum. A friend once told him, “Every person you shoot connects you to three more.” It proved true. But his biggest growth came when he started assisting.

Saya recalled one established photographer who handed him a brutal wake-up: “You’re arrogant if you think you can make it in this industry without assisting.” He took it in stride, entering a high-volume e-comm environment under several established mentors in the Melbourne industry, where he learned to navigate studio lighting and shoot pacing. From there, his fashion photography career began to take shape. “I never imagined I’d get a full-time job in photography,” he says. “That was the dream,” although he notes, “I still feel like I’m at the beginning of my journey and still have a lot more to learn”.​