Journal

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Danger Coast

I went to Tojimbo cliffs in Fukui Prefecture some years back. The place was just as eerie as it’s reputation as famous place for suicides in Japan. The cliff’s shape was very unique and sharp rocks looked very lethal.

There are free telephone booths which can be used to call for help, should one find himself in desperate situation, and also people patrolling the area. All of these are organized by volunteer force.

Japan’s suicide rate is among the highest in the world. There are about 24,4 suicides per 100,000 people. Japan was ranked second in 2009, after Russia.

While mass media is thriving..

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Edmund Burke's famous quote

Regarding Edmund Burke’s famous quote (on war and peace):
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

I think it should be:
“All that is necessary for the triumph of peace is that good men do nothing.”

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Simplicity

I realized recently that actually I’m not so interested about cameras. Sure I have some interest, especially in old film cameras (Leica M series especially) and the philosophy behind the old photography. But there is endless number of blogs in web dealing with questions such as what camera should one buy, which lens is sharp and which camera brand to choose.

This camera has automatic landscape mode, pet face detection, and this camera, oh-my-god! It can go so high ISO that it can shoot black insects in coal mines without flash! And look at this zoom lens!

It feels like perfectly creative peoples minds are consumed by the technological possibilities.

In order to focus in photography, I decided to be simple regarding the gear. If I’m doing my own art photos I usually use my Fujifilm X100 and nothing else. I have the cheap flash unit for it (fits in pocket easily) and I use it rarely as a fill flash, but that’s all.

Simple images have power. I’d like the process of taking a photo to be as simple and unobtrusive as possible.

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Icelandic Honeymoon

Yosuke Kakegawa & Kimiko Mori’s Icelandic Honeymoon is interesting work which suffers from being too cute. I like the overall expression, but don’t understand the shots of McDonalds meals or airplane wings. This could have been much more. Currently, too much conservative and obvious. However, color and overall feel of the photos is great, although a bit like watching a commercial.

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My Favorite

I went to Eroguranmasse exhibition last summer in Yokohama. My friend was one of the photographers who arranged it, and also featured his own work in the exhibition. The exhibition, as the name suggests, was very cross-artistic and bohemian, with erotic theme.

My music Magical Forest was used as a background music for the exhibition, so I felt some strange , personal feeling. In fact, I was a bit startled.

Generally I liked all of the pictures and artworks, but one piece caught my eye especially. A photo framed in black.

Although the photo portrays a dead woman, and is rather believable, she seems so alive too, I remember thinking. “Intertesting..” I said to myself and went on to see other works, while my very own “Fish Hospital” played from the speakers, the piece music I had performed live in Monzennakacho year before.

After returning to see the photo (twice) I decided to buy it.

It was later revealed to me that the picture was taken by iPhone and that the woman in the photo was the artist herself. I had pleasure to meet her after the exhibition and it was very delightful to see her alive face. She proved to be witty and funny person.

I think it wouldn’t do justice of the photo if I show it here, instead I will show what is written behind the picture (after I bought it). This photo is still hanged in my office and will be unlikely replaced any time soon.

I will ask the Riesan if there is some way to see her work online. Will link.

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Personal Matter

You know, long time ago, I used to date a woman who was a photographer. She was from Tokyo.

I think I really learned from her. She was real artist, you know, and her photos were astonishing. For me they were as great as photos shot by Araki or Cartier-Bresson. They were just that unique.

She was a cameraman. A photographer. You know.

Give her cheap give-away Coca Cola camera and she will take totally great photos with it, photos you can hang to a gallery. She always carried her Leica M6 and the camera was like her third eye. Taking pictures was so natural for her.

When she took a photo, she seemed to disappear. People (even my relatives) were relaxed and at ease with her and they didn’t mind her taking a photo. In fact, they didn’t even realize for the most part.

She hated gadgets like my brand new Canon DSLR. For her the convenience of digital age meant nothing. And I begun to understand that. Sometimes she asked me to borrow her my DSLR to get a hint for shutter speed, since the metering in her M6 was shot. But she always figured it out in her mind.

She left a tiny footprint (size of a squirrel’s foot) in my heart, which keeps inspiring me. Her spirit as an artist, photographer really made influence in me.

So I want to say I am very thankful for her. That should be all.

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Autumn Lake

This photo was shot with Canon Powershot G9. There’s some noise but it isn’t so bad, considering that it is a compact camera. My G9 suffered crash landing when I was climbing on Takao, so she won’t be with me anymore.

However, this is one of the photos I shot with her in 2008.

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Lily

This is an old photo of a lily I took back in 2008 and did some Cross Process magic in Aperture 3. This was shot with Eos 350D (EOS Kiss Digital N) and the trusty 50mm 1.8 “plastic fantastic” at F/2.2. That wasn’t a bad camera.