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Her camera captures the scene

The stay-at-home mom photographs high school shows across the area and sells the pictures to proud parents.

By STEPHANIE HAYES
Published December 2, 2005

WESTCHASE - Actors decked out in big wigs, big period costumes and even bigger expressions gallop around the stage, singing to the last row.

Quiet as a mouse, Wendy Nakamoto stands in the shadows and captures it all.

Nakamoto is a photographer in the making, honing and refining her talent by photographing high school theater productions.

With a digital camera, Nakamoto snaps pictures at Alonso High School's dress rehearsal for Les Miserables. When Inspector Javert plummets to his death, she zooms in down front. When Jean Valjean and Cosette move stage left for a tearful embrace, the pixieish Nakamoto scurries over, hauling a tripod that nearly towers over her.

"I love to watch the focus, the intensity the kids give to the characters they're playing," she said. "When you see a group of kids and the director working together, it's beautiful."

Nakamoto has also shot productions at Blake, Wharton, Riverview and Plant City high schools. This year, she started a Web site, www.wendysphoto.com where parents can purchase reprints of their pride-and-joys gracing the stage.

"It's a wonderful service," said Karen Bistany, who leafed through Nakamoto's portfolio after the rehearsal. Her daughter Allison is the understudy for young Cosette in Les Miserables. "There's no way you can take pictures yourself" while trying to watch performances, she said.

Nakamoto, a stay-at-home mom who lives in Northdale, could have used a service like hers years ago. As children, Nakamoto's daughters Zariella, 19, and Kalina, 16, were members of Entertainment Revue, a Tampa performance group. Later, they enrolled at Alonso on special permits to join the drama program.

Nakamoto wanted to have pictures of her girls in the spotlight, so she took them herself - not so simple, she realized.

"My pictures were really awful when I first took them," she said. "You know how you have an instant camera and all you can see is a blur?"

Nakamoto bought a better camera and practiced at her daughters' performances, learning to find the right angles and deal with erratic stage lights. She hunted for tips on the Internet. She got better.

Lisa Belcher, Alonso's drama instructor, thinks Nakamoto was always good, just a perfectionist.

"I thought her pictures were great, but she was never happy with them," Belcher said. "It's nice to see her getting excited about producing a product."

That product is especially useful at Alonso, where Belcher bans cameras from the theater during shows.

"It's really distracting to have a lot of people taking pictures," she said. "You have a lot of flashes going off in the middle of the show."

Belcher, who met the Nakamoto family at an audition, showed off Nakamoto's portfolio at a Hillsborough County drama teachers' meeting, helping her land gigs at the other schools.

As demand grew, her photography became more than just scrapbook fodder - it was something to fill the hours left vacant by maturing daughters testing the waters of independence. Zariella graduated from Alonso and moved to Florida State University. Kalina transferred to Freedom High and took up tennis.

"I wanted to find something that I liked," she said. "I felt like I had time now."

That spare time came on the heels of a life spent on the move. Nakamoto, now in her 50s, bears a slight accent that reveals roots in Hong Kong. She moved to New York at age 9 with her parents, who opened a restaurant there.

In New York, she met her future husband, Douglas. But when Nakamoto's parents retired almost 20 years ago, she followed them south to Tampa.

Douglas was not far behind.

"He was traveling and he decided to come and pay me a visit," she said with a sweet lilt. The rest, she said, is history.

She sees the future as bright. She'd like to shoot professional productions, maybe take a job as a house photographer for a theater.

Nakamoto thinks she's rounding the learning curve she's been riding, learning to use photo software and to run a Web site. She's now able to edit and load photos on the site within a week.

It's still not fast enough for those who have watched her work from the stage - her daughters.

"They say, "Mom, you've got to pick up speed.' "

- Stephanie Hayes can be reached at 813 269-5303 or shayes@sptimes.com

NAME: Wendy Nakamoto

OCCUPATION: Photographer for high school plays

FAVORITE SHOOTS: Some of her favorite shows to photograph have included The Metamorphosis and Sweet Charity at Riverview High. "There are so many good plays," she said. "Each play is different."

SEEING THE LIGHT: Theater lighting can be a challenge for taking pictures, Nakamoto said. "Sometimes when the scenes are sad, the light kind of fades out, and the camera has to have light for the image," she said. "When the actors are happy or get what they want, the lights will turn bright. It's kind of the fun in the challenge, too."

STORING MEMORIES: Though she doesn't have as much time anymore, Nakamoto likes to arrange her photos in albums. "I love scrapbooking. You put pictures together and you create a story."

WEDDING WISHES: Nakamoto's ultimate photo shoot? Her daughters' weddings. "That would be my dream job. I might have someone else there just in case, because there's always something that can happen."

PLAY DATE: More people should explore high school theater for entertainment, Nakamoto said. "Check out one of these major performances that the high schools give," she said. "It's worth the money, and it's nice to see the work done well."

[Last modified December 1, 2005, 09:34:11]