Note: Very worthwhile 16-picture gallery after the jump.

This is gallery of photographs by and all featuring Natsumi Hayashi, a Tokyo teenager who takes hundreds of pictures of herself jumping until she captures just the right one where, instead of jumping, it looks like she's levitating. That, or she just takes one and Photoshops the hoverboard out.

"The only way to get a right timing for a shot is jumping a lot," Hayashi said in an interview with the U.K.'s Daily Mail, dispelling our hopeful illusions that she's the first human being who can actually fly. "Sometimes I need to jump over 100 times to get a right shot" She does this in front of her camera, mounted on a tripod, and continues to do so until she achieves that perfect, natural-looking "levitation."

"I got the idea from an English idiom that says 'to have one's feet firmly planted on the ground," she continued. "In Japan, we have the exact same idiom. But I am not a practical person at all. Therefore, I try 'not to have my feet firmly on the ground' in my self-portrait photos to show my true self."

Oh reaaaaaaaaally, Natsumi? Is your 'real self' actually an impractical girl or -- OR -- is it a levitating witch? Ha -- no need to answer, we're gonna drown you either way just to be safe.

Hit the jump for 16 more of Natsumi's impressive work.

Natsumi's Website (with a ton more)

and

Teenage photographer on the up: Japanese schoolgirl 'levitating' causes internet sensation [dailymail]

via

20 self portraits of Tokyo's 'Levitating Girl' Natsumi Hayashi [dvice]