Journal

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Lunch with Naoto

I had great talk with Naoto today for lunch. We went to Tsubame grill in Shin-Yokohama and we talked (as usual) about cameras and photography.

Naoto is the man behind Zero Stage nickname in Flickr. I saw his previous photos in Eroguranmasse exhibition in Yokohama last summer and I was impressed.

He says he can’t draw and has no artistic drive. His photos, however, tell a different story. He frames his nudes strongly but exquisitely, his camera painting beautiful images that do excellent justice for the organic curves of female body.

Obviously his deep understanding of monochrome and film photography in general must have something to do with the excellent result. But I would say that it’s his artistic talent which drives him to capture female beauty in such passionate and beautiful way.

My personal favorite of his work would be the nude woman in empty bath tub. The light is soft like afternoon light, and the model has relaxed but expecting look. She is both proud and fragile. This is just one of his works that have this sensitive erotic appeal to them.

Naoto’s eyes shines when he talks about film. He said that he wasn’t so interested about photography when he used digital camera. He said only after he started using film, he got really interested in photos.

I am really looking forward to see his incoming exhibition later this month. In the meanwhile, thank you Naoto-san for borrowing me your Leica M6.

(We both ended up in cover of March edition of Yokohama Seasider. Oh, we lucky handsome gentlemen!)

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Most of Us Stand Alone

The well dressed man stands alone, without a family or beautiful sweetheart by his side. Tears no longer come to his eyes when he listens to his favorite music, and his classic record collection is now decaying in his shelf.

He comes to Yokohama because for some reason he wants to look into the sea, and this is his favorite spot. He finds the scenery of the sea calming somehow but knows no reason for it.

Before he returns to Tokyo he goes to Akarenga to check what’s going on in Motion Blue and drinks three whiskeys straight in the bar nearby. Neither his wife or girlfriend no longer gives him a call.

At 3PM, he looks at his watch. Since he’s got time, he decides to return to the office to continue his work.

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Interview of Maya Sinji Jung Coming Soon

I recently discovered very talented photographer Maya Sinji Jung in Flickr and JPGMag. I contacted her and we made friends. And she promised me her interview.

She says she wants to be a storyteller to the world, using her photos and films. I was very moved about her writing as well, she has such unique talent for poetry and verbal expression.

She is now traveling so I will be back with her interview as she returns.

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Regarding build quality

I think my Fujifilm X100 is pretty nice camera regarding the it’s construction and build quality. The camera is also very light which makes it far more portable than any DSLR.

However the camera does not begin to compare to Leica’s M series. Their fit and finish is really something unrivaled. You have to hold the camera in your hands in order to understand. It’s Leica and it you can bring it to war.

Showing my X100 to pro photographers, most likely comment I get is “oh it’s so light” hummmm!  Yeah, but you know, if you have lugged M6 around for couple of decades, that’s what you’re going to feel when holding such tiny digital wonder in your hands for the first time.

And I wouldn’t bring my X100 to war.

While magnesium alloy is remarkably nice material for cameras, you can’t beat brass (or titanium). It feels just right.

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Dawn of New Age

I saw dream of my unborn son. In the dream he said: “There is no time, there is no universe, there’s no country. There’s nothing but you.”

He haven’t experienced the cold breeze or hardness of the world. He doesn’t know how sunshine feels on his skin. But he already knows what’s important.

Coming this far, my conclusion is that life has no meaning. This lifetime is one time experience. Like ice hockey. Game with absolutely no meaning whatsoever.

Maybe even the gods have already left our universe, and there’s nothing but us. There’s no reason why we live or die, so we should really take care of ourselves and the others.

We are the people with the artist’s brush. Whether we try or not, we are creating a new world, painting it with our colors, all the time, every time, everywhere.

Since this life happens only once, why not make it something beautiful?

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Sorrow

If there is one thing with ultimate importance, one thing that defines us and one thing which makes us human, it would be the sorrow we feel.

Sorrow is what links us to the fellow animals on this planet and sorrow is what makes life possible. When we meet someone we love, the connection is often made possible by sharing the same pain.

The pain really hurts, goes into the bone and is ever so difficult to bear. Yet, it’s necessary to understand and see it fully. Anything else would be cheating. The counterweight is that much necessary.

By feeding happiness, we feed sorrow. By living, we feed death. Life is like a thin piece of silk, which is ever so easily flipped by a faint breeze.

Art helps me to feel my sorrow and to understand myself.

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Anteeksi

Anteeksi is a finnish word which means “Sorry.”

I’ve always liked the sound of it. It’s apologetic but also beautiful and elegant, the word just flows naturally.  I used to know a design studio in Helsinki by Japanese designer which used that name, which I thought was interesting.

I’ve always thought that just before I die, I would like to say this word.

It’s not sentimental, but functional word. I want to say sorry for the world for taking my weight.

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Photography is stuff of men? Says Sonny

I think Sony’s remark in their Chinese website “girls couldn’t shoot” is perfect symbolism for the company’s values.  It’s probably good that they are going to focus on software since industrial design surely wasn’t one of their strongest areas since maybe, Walkman.

I can’t say I like any of the company’s present line of cameras and I think that their comment is right in line just how serious they are about photography.

DigitalREV translated the remark in the website: “from now on, shooting is no longer stuff of men”. The guys made hilarious video about the topic that is spot on: http://youtu.be/IDFCMHLtNl8

Hey Sonny, have you ever heard of Anna Atkins or , ehm. Annie Leibowitz? Women were shooting photos long time ago there even was Sony.

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Baghdad

I have uploaded my short story Baghdad. Please download it for free. (pdf) (eBook).

I wrote this in 2006 and it’s based on a dream I saw. Now that I read it, I think it somehow summarizes my feeling what I had about the decade. Invasion war repeated once again, dictator in Middle East fell and the cowboy told his lies to the world.

I had shivers while typing my Macbook’s keyboard in my empty apartment in middle of the night. I had fever, but I couldn’t stop writing. The dream felt so vivid. The main body of the story came out in couple of hours. I sent the original manuscript to Random House and much to my surprise, received reply from the chief editor Mr.Rowley. According to him the story could have been published if my English writing would have “flown more”.

My short story received two passes of edits and this, what will the last version of the story, is quite readable in my opinion.

Please feel free to download and read the story and send me the comments. I’d love to hear them.

Yours,
Jaakko