This program is a sustained, private 1-on-1 project incubator led directly by Ephemere founder, curator, and publisher, Anne Murayama. Designed for photographers at any stage of the bookmaking journey, this program does not impose a generic syllabus or require a finished dummy on day one. Instead, Anne meets your body of work exactly where it stands—whether you are untangling a raw, sprawling archive, refining a complex visual narrative, or translating loose photographs into a cohesive book structure. Over your time together, the focus remains on the critical editorial, conceptual, and architectural decisions that give a photobook its voice.

All new participants begin with the 3-Month Incubation ($1,500.00 USD), providing 15 contact hours structured as two 2.5-hour sessions per month across six meetings. Meetings adapt dynamically to your project: devoting early sessions to conceptual distillation and radical culling, shifting into rhythmic sequencing, and progressing into layout drafting, typographic choices, and statement writing. Between video meetings, Anne assigns targeted practical tasks—such as printing proof sheets, cutting working paper mockups, or refining digital spreads—which are reviewed together on screen. For active mentees needing supplemental time, the trajectory optionally expands through a 1-Month Continuation ($500.00 USD / 2 sessions) or a targeted 1-Session Add-On ($275.00 USD / 2.5 hours) for pre-press checks, grant reviews, or urgent publisher deadlines.

To guarantee thorough offline review and deep curatorial investment between calls, enrollment is strictly capped at three active mentees at a time. Sessions are scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays within daytime (11:00 AM – 4:00 PM JST) or evening (8:00 PM – 11:00 PM JST) windows. Admission is granted via application review to ensure your work aligns with Anne’s curatorial focus. While the program emphasizes independent artistic development, exceptional bodies of work that reach full conceptual and production readiness may be invited by Anne for publication consideration under Ephemere's collaborative 50/50 co-publishing imprint.

This program is a private, intensive working day in Tokyo created for visiting photographers and Japan-based artists seeking tactile, hands-on collaboration directly with Anne Murayama. While digital screens are practical for early drafting, a photobook is fundamentally a physical object experienced through weight, texture, scale, and pace. Working side by side with Anne in central Tokyo removes the screen barrier entirely, allowing you to lay out physical work prints across wide tables, step back to evaluate rhythm across space, and make immediate, instinctive editorial choices that cannot be replicated remotely.

Over six dedicated hours (typically 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM JST), the working day is customized around your project’s immediate needs. For early-stage work, the session can focus on tabletop print curation, pruning an archive to its narrative core, and testing sequence flows. If your edit is already established, time can shift toward tactile dummy engineering: folding paper signatures, testing scale, experimenting with cover mechanics, or troubleshooting layout pacing. Depending on your goals, Anne can also incorporate guided excursions—introducing you to Tokyo paper merchants, specialty binderies, or photobook hubs to source materials directly.

Sessions operate on rolling dates throughout the year and are hosted exclusively on Tuesdays and Thursdays to preserve calendar focus. The mentorship can be booked as a Single-Day Focus ($480 / 6 hrs), a Two-Day Intensive ($900 / 12 hrs), or a Three-Day Immersion ($1,300 / 18 hrs). The fee covers Anne’s private mentorship, custom roadmap planning, and private workspace coordination. Personal transit, meals, and specialized dummy papers remain the mentee's responsibility. Because each date is reserved exclusively, admission is by application only. Mature dummies may also be considered by Anne for release under the Ephemere imprint.

This online program offers 60 minutes of focused, dedicated time directly with Ephemere founder Anne Murayama. Serving as an accessible bridge into Ephemere's learning pathways, this standalone session is designed for artists who are not yet ready for a multi-month mentorship, those undecided about which format best fits their work, or anyone needing immediate answers on a specific challenge. With no long-term financial or production commitments, this private conversation creates a supportive, candid space to gain clarity, unblock creative paralysis, and identify your next steps.

Whether you need a quick curatorial gut check on a selection of images, guidance on structuring your first publication, or practical advice on navigating the Tokyo gallery and publishing ecosystem based on Anne’s background of over ten years as an independent curator and publisher, the hour is entirely yours. There is no rigid syllabus; Anne tailors her analysis directly to the portfolio materials, project statements, and questions submitted prior to your session. It functions equally well as a project diagnostic, an industry advisory, or a preliminary check-in before committing to a longer program.

Sessions are open to artists worldwide at any experience level, conducted via Google Meet, and scheduled according to Japan Standard Time (JST). Consultations are hosted exclusively on Wednesdays, allowing Anne to prepare thorough notes for each participant. To book a session, artists select their preferred time window and propose three Wednesday dates at least one week in advance. Following direct checkout and registration form submission, an official calendar invitation is issued with your confirmed date and video link, followed by a written summary of key action points after the call.