In transition

I have arrived to my wife’s hometown in Mie. I was planning to stay in Yokohama until end of this week, because of Yokohama Art Department event which was organized by my friends in Art Mania.

But since my wife is pregnant and the baby seems to come earlier than expected, I decided I must return here as soon as possible.

Island Mother shooting and the Monday’s session after it, with my friend Saeko Nakahara, was very fascinating and emotionally moving process.

I feel humbled by it, and you know, being such a crybaby, I couldn’t stop my tears. The theme itself is about life and death, and one’s passing through life.  Saeko was totally amazing. I have never met anyone so talented in my life so far.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be wrong to say that part of me was burned away in the process of making these images.

And I’m saved by it.

The images are completed now, and there’s nothing more to add.

I hope I will continue to have the necessary courage to fight and challenge myself. Because it’s my job to take a photo.

It's ok, if you are my friend

I’m only making my culture from now. I have never had culture which I could call my own. The thing is, absolute sad thing as it is, is that it takes long time to make a culture.
I will be 70 years old when I finally know I’ve made my own culture and can somehow enjoy it. Then I will be dead.
What enjoyment can there possibly be? It’s a sheer pain and tears to make your own culture, to make others convinced, to change the world around you.
I am doomed in that sense and I have no hope. I know that.
But it’s ok. If you are my friend.

This Painful Way of Life

When you really appreciate someone, you know, when you really feel someone is important and close to you, you can’t really invade their space. Regardless how pleasant time you’ve had, at the end, you’ve got to be detached, cool, or like, whatever, you know.

In that way I think that always, time after time, my loneliness is a state where I fall in naturally, like my shape fits that hole only. I feel like I’m the extra piece that’s just lying down there.

Being in any kind of group for extended period of time makes me feel  even physical pain. No matter how dear the people are, if there is more than one person at the time, I’m going to get into pretty bad shape. I get panic attacks, I have trouble breathing and I make all kinds of mistakes and confuse words. It’s totally awful and I try to hide it with my own expense.

This used to be the reason why I always liked to drink in parties because it gave temporary relief to my pain of being in the group. And I overdid it quite few times. But you can’t really keep up doing that either because it’s going to mess up your life. So I’ve decided to manage without.

I might be a tortured soul in a classic way, you know, I take the search of my own beauty very seriously and all that what you’ve heard thousand times about “feeling the pain”; I think I really want to face that honestly and strongly.

And sometimes I want to punish myself.

But you know, I don’t mean to harm myself, instead I try constantly to protect myself. When I’m in my valleys, like right now, it takes significant effort just to wake up from that two hour’s restless sleep. I lose my appetite as well, and I might just as well drink hot water because I can’t tell any difference with any other stuff, but it’s all fine.

I feel it is the natural way to exist for me and it is the time when great inspiration comes. It hurts like hell but at least I’m alive.

So, perhaps, these valleys are not valleys but peaks actually.

Shooting of Island Mother

Yesterday I had chance to shoot a project Island Mother with beautiful Saeko Nakahara in Enoshima. I have been preparing this project for three years.

It was totally amazing. Her sheer talent as an artist and intelligence really moved me. We had delicious pancakes after the shoot in the cafe up on the rocks.

The photos of Island Mother will be published in Here Sometimes this summer.

Beacons

You know the kind of lights you see over the night sea, the tiny lights your eye can barely see, beacons in against the dark horizon of the water. There are only few of those, and they keep sending their signal to the empty sea.

Those are the kinds of lights I like to see. Their faint signal barely reaches you, and they exist alone in the dark ocean.

People crossing the bridge look at the opposite shore where there are glittering lights of a city and traffic and they scream “oh beautiful!”. But I like to look at the opposite direction, into the darkness.

Sometimes faintest things are the strongest.

Regarding my post "I Fear the Cold Wind of the Society"

I wrote to JPG Mag self-portrait title “I Fear the Cold Wind of the Society”. For my happy surprise, I received some encouraging words from my fellow photographer Maya:
http://jpgmag.com/photos/3299575

What I meant by that title wasn’t really as melancholic as it turned out to be, and I certainly didn’t mean Japanese society, but all societies in general, regardless of location or country.

I was bullied in school, you know, and compulsory army service wasn’t exactly the nicest experience for me either, and both of them, during the years of my youth, represented a kind of society. And I guess I’ve never really been able to adjust into any kind of society.

And I am easy to get panic attack if I have to operate under pressure in front of many people.

But as Maya wisely wrote:  “Be a tree of wholeness rather than a tree in the forest.”

I feel somehow comforted by this wisdom. We don’t have to belong to the group in order to operate within one. And we can always leave if we feel so.

Ideas for Self Portraits

Taking self portrait is interesting. It takes usually plenty of shots until you can really get into that magical zone when things start to come. In first photos you are always nervous, but the tension is released when you keep pressing the shutter.

I took this image using a self made rig of tripod and monopod. My Fujifilm X100 is light enough to be propped this way, and it just works great.

Digital cameras nowadays really have the advantage of using high ISOs with very little noise, so usually you really don’t need to use flash unless the subject is moving fast.

Remember to have fun and experiment. That’s what photography is all about.

PS. The title of this photo is “Shrimp Dreamer”. My pose in this photo is actually a yoga pose “shrimp” which was taught by my yoga teacher.

Don't Forget to Be The Artist

Since most of us creators have gadgets and devices that we need to manage, we often forget the most important, to be the artist.

It makes a lot of sense to step back from the glowing screen and go to another room with simple pencil and sketchbook.

There’s something fundamentally wrong with the digital devices. They mess up with our creativity.

Computers are still just what they once were, digital devices capable of managing lots of data, and they have no creativity whatsoever built into them. Computers have limits. You are the creator with no limit.

It’s easy to forget nowadays that we are artists. Although we take advantage of digital tools, we shouldn’t forget who we are; artists with infinite potential.

It was snowing this morning

I came to my wife’s hometown Ise couple of days ago. Since this is very local place and foreigners are a rare sight here, I must admit I have been a bit nervous sometimes to take a walk outside with my camera.

In some strange way, I have been worried I get into some trouble, or that people wouldn’t accept my existence. You know how closed agricultural society can be.

But this morning as it was snowing, I was greeted by elderly lady just nearby the house, you know she had warmest, most heartfelt smile, and she just kept talking about the weather, and asked how cold it gets in Finland. She treated me just the same as she would treat any  other resident of the town, and it was so natural. I felt warm by her kind words.

I realize that there’s no slightest reason to be nervous. People are same everywhere. I am always me and you are always you.

So don’t be afraid to go out and take a picture.