Mark Pearson’s Zen Foto Gallery will open up two weeks from today in Shibuya. I’m sure the news of a new photography gallery might provoke either a groan (“does Tokyo really need more photo galleries?”) or a shrug (“hey, according to Tokyo Art Beat I already miss about 80 events a week”). Those reactions are understandable, but I do think there is a reason to pay attention to the exhibits that go up at Zen Foto—the gallery is planning to focus on the work of Chinese photographers.

I know basically nothing about what’s happening with Chinese photography, so I am looking forward to learning more. The first exhibit, Liu Zheng’s “Dream Shock,” opens on September 18, with an opening reception at 6:00pm. [map]

This is a map of the route that I traveled this summer. You can see it in more detail, too. I learned a whole bunch of things on the trip, some relating to photography, some not. After spending quite a bit of time in the inaka (countryside) I have a much different view of Tokyo. My Japanese is improved. I met a bunch of photographers. I can highly recommend Matsumoto as a place to visit. I have a lot of film to develop sitting in my fridge.

My attitude towards the internet is changing. I am more skeptical of “internet culture,” at least as it relates to photography. I hear this view expressed more often, although only a little bit online. I’m less and less sure why people write blogs, let alone read them. I’m more and more sure of canceling my home internet service. I’m gonna try reading books again instead of RSS and see how that affects my blogging.

There are some things I want to discuss on this blog:
– What is photography?
– What do we mean when we say “photography”?
– The Higashikawa photo festival
– How does the concept of “flow” relate to photography?
– These, you know, among other things

My friend Phillip took this picture of me at a top secret spot in Tokyo where the light you’re seeing is “naturally occurring.”

Philip is a photography student at San Jose State, and he was in Japan for a month long program this summer. I can’t imagine there’s a better place to spend a month as a photography student than Japan…

Back in February, I saw a very strong exhibit at Totem Pole by Takumi Ota. I’ve had some pictures of the show that Ota san sent to me sitting around for a really long time, so here they are:

I think it will be difficult to make out most of these images, and unfortunately they’re not on his website either. Still, you can get a sense of what the excellent Totem Pole Photo Gallery looks like, and maybe these pictures will pique your interest to check out the other good work that Ota san has up on his site.

I moved to Tokyo a little over six months ago. This seems like a good time to write down my initial thoughts about the local photography scene, especially while I’ve enjoyed things so much. On the whole, things in Tokyo are very stimulating, and while I miss plenty of things about the Bay Area I’m glad I came.

Good stuff

People:

The sheer number of people who are heavily involved in photography is probably the best thing about Tokyo. I’ve had personal interactions with Brian, Fukuyama san, GOM, Patrick, Philip, Jim, John, Jono, Takahashi san and the staff at Tosei sha, Tim, Yamashita san and a bunch of other people. I don’t know very much about photography, and hanging out with these people is a good way for me to learn more. I never felt as close to a other photographers in San Francisco as I do here—although that’s definitely not all SF’s fault. The number of people who shoot film, process it themselves and print it at home is a good indication of the real energy behind photography here.

Galleries:

There are probably around 30 or so galleries dedicated to photography, the majority of which change their shows every week (!). It’s safe to say that during any given month, there are at least 100 photography shows in Tokyo. This is obviously overwhelming, and I’ve long given up on trying to monitor the listings on Tokyo Art Beat in any meaningful way, but the fact that you can see all kinds of photography at any time (usually for free) is a real treat.

Books:

Beyond the absurd number of galleries in Tokyo, it’s a great city for looking at photography books. (To be fair, I should say that Japan is a great country for photography book publishing—it’s important to realize that Tokyo does not equal Japan, and Japan does not equal Tokyo.) There are specialized places like Sokyu sha, but any regular chain bookstore will carry a good number of interesting photography titles and magazines as well. In most places in Tokyo, you’re probably never far from a book browsing respite.

Cameras:

This is obvious, no? Being home to many of the most notable camera companies in history, as well as many avid photographers, Japan has a tremendous influx of camera gear. As the most bustling city in Japan, it is probably not a stretch to say that you could find any camera gear imaginable in Tokyo.

Not so good stuff

Cost

There had to be a catch somewhere, right? Tokyo is EXPENSIVE. In photography this comes across in the price of books, gear and photo paper. Beyond these explicit costs, though, the overall cost of living makes stuff like rent and transportation much higher than “normal.” A bike definitely helps there, but no one picks up photography (especially film) as a money-saving hobby…

Half frame nonsense

This is just a pet peeve, but so many places have difficulty printing half frame film, let alone making a CD out of it! When I did get prints they costed twice the price I was quoted. This is strange given that in the US, Walgreen’s will do their usual bang-up job for $5 no questions asked.

As a city for photography, I don’t think Tokyo will disappoint you. At least not for the first six months.

I’m currently traveling around Japan for about 5 weeks or so, starting with Hokkaido and making my way down to Tottori. I have queued up a few posts here, and also at Fervor de Tokio, where you can see some snapshots rolling in over the course of the summer.

So there will be some things coming through, but, you know, there won’t be any of the high quality, lightning-fast, on-the-scene-in-Tokyo posts that you’ve come to expect from this blog. (that is a joke)

D: How would you prefer to describe yourself?

W: I’m a photographer, a still photographer. That’s it.

D: If you don’t like “street photographer,” how do you respond to that other ætiresome phrase’, “snapshot aesthetic”?

W: I knew that was coming. That’s another stupidity. The people who use the term don’t even know the meaning. They use it to refer to photographs they believe are loosely organized, or casually made, whatever you want to call it. Whatever terms you like. The fact is, when they’re talking about snapshots they’re talking about the family album picture, which is one of the most precisely made photographs. Everybody’s fifteen feet away and smiling. The sun is over the viewer’s shoulder. That’s when the picture is taken, always. It’s one of the most carefully made photographs that ever happened. People are just dumb. They misunderstand.

D: That’s an interesting point, particularly coming from someone who takes — or rather, composes and then snaps— lightning-fast shots.

W: I’ll say this, I’m pretty fast with a camera when I have to be. However, I think it’s irrelevant. I mean, what if I said that every photograph I made was set up? From the photograph, you can’t prove otherwise. You don’t know anything from the photograph about how it was made, really. But every photograph could be set up. If one could imagine it, one could set it up. The whole discussion is a way of not talking about photographs.

The entire interview is worth reading. Also I’ve linked this before, but this 12 minute video about Winogrand might be the best “video about a photographer” out there. His strong personality comes through, and the footage of him taking pictures is actually interesting. “Actually” because most videos where someone follows a photographer around bore me to tears…

Korea, long story

So hey, that’s my shot. Pro forma, I even submitted it to Fecal Face.

I’m getting really tired of color though. Most of the color stuff I shot in Korea didn’t look good at all, especially when I compared it to black and white shots I had taken of the same thing. Maybe I’d get better results if I bit the bullet and used Portra or even Superia instead of the dirt cheap Centuria, but at this point I don’t care about it enough. I’m about to take a big trip and I think all my 35mm film is going to be black and white.

PUS–EYE is a blog that I found a while ago which only posts work from new photographers. Maybe the stuff they were posting before was better, or maybe I got old, but I visited lately and felt bored—everything looked the same. I generally like Ye Rin Mok, but I didn’t even notice that she was featured on the site because the selection of her work made her look like everyone else. You could call the work featured on the site “lifestyle” photography, although I think maybe that internet discussion has come and gone. I hope so at least, I can’t see it being very interesting.

a portrait of Shaun White by Ye Rin Mok (not featured on PUS–EYE)

Still, the words “hard-flash color aesthetic” came up in conversation lately, and it provoked noteworthy responses. If we don’t use this are we dead? How long is this going to be hot for? Jurgen Teller is doing well for himself by using white backgrounds…

PUS–EYE is an effort to curate Flickr. I think it’s impressive that you can find so many people who are using this style. What does that mean? Who’s real and who’s posing? Who’s using the style to break with it? Or is this really the shape of things to come for the next X years? I’m more than positive that it is always the right time to destroy a style. We’re sitting here in front of our computers, waiting for you to do it!