Place M, Group 5 'edu YAMA' , and the 'Mirror' Exhibition

We visited photo gallery place M on November 18^th. The gallery is located at the Shinzyuku-Gyoen. And it is a nice coffee shop neighborhood. (We had break and meeting for the presentation there like, before when we went to another photo gallery). The gallery was very simple. It was a square and white-walled room. There were about 20 pictures. All of the pictures were human faces. The gallery had a mysterious atmosphere, it felt weird when we entered because we were surrounded by human faces’ pictures. There was a poem “Mirror” written by the photographer on the wall. The exhibition was named for it.
The photographer is Tamotsu Yamaguchi. He was born in 1948 in Chiba prefecture and is 60 years old now. He was interesting, and had deep thoughts about education and human psychology and he very nicely and answered our questions. He graduated from Musashino Art University and worked as an oil painter. However, he felt difficulty working as a painter so he became a school teacher for handicapped children. Working there for 10 years, he took pictures of children there 15 years ago. He said he cannot take pictures if he does not know the children individually –he took pictures more as teacher-student relationship, not as a photographer.

Although the pictures cannot be uploaded on the blog due to the copy rights, I will try to explain one specific picture we most liked. It is the picture of a boy. In the gallery, the children taken are basically from 5^th grade to middle school and this boy is from middle school. The photographer Mr. Yamaguchi said this boy is very sensitive and liked to listen to the sound of the piano. In fact, his sensitivity is vividly expressed in the picture. In this picture, it looks like he is afraid or being nervous of something. However at the same time, it seems like he is trying to face something invisible but yet very powerful. In my opinion, I think that is why we can feel some kind of strength in his face.

As it can be seen, the pictures were all taken in front of a blackboard. Mr. Yamaguchi said the light on the roof near the board was in a good place because it lights their faces nicely when the pictures are in black and white. He said he likes to take pictures in black and white because it can indirectly express the essentiality of the object taken. He said he used a twin-lens reflex camera. He said that twin-lens reflex camera is a “humanlike camera” because there is nothing that disturbs between the object and the photographer. That is why he was able to speak with children while taking the pictures.

All the photos exhibited in that gallery captured only children’s face. It is actually very difficult to take one’s natural face directly from front. So why did he intentionally take this kind of picture? That’s because he felt very strong internal power from them. This message is also conveyed in the title of this exhibition, “Mirror”. The title “Mirror” was given by a famous poet, Sakon So, who recently passed away. Mr. So wrote a poem “Mirror” for him, also expressing the strength of the children. Yamaguchi said he really likes this title and he said the title is very important. When we looked at photos, we could feel something strong from them. At the same time, we felt their beauty of innocence and their lovable personality, which in a way forces us to face to our internal personality.

Group 8 'Orange Juice' Sees Yoko Hara at Place M

Place M is at few minutes walk from Shinjyuku-gyoemmae Station. This gallery is run by four photographers: Nobuhiko Ono, Masato Seto, Hiroyasu Nakai, and Daido Moriyama. They rent a gallery and darkroom and host some exhibition and workshops. Each are open the whole the year so that everyone has a chance to see photographs.

Yoko Hara started photography 13 years ago. One of her cousins is a photographer, but she didn’t have interest in photos at first. One day she appreciated a photo of a waterfall in a forest and she was moved. This is the reason why she started photography.

 She has held an individual show only two times and the first time was a small one in Osaka. Also she doesn’t have her own website. Moreover she is not so particular about the types of camera, so that she rents/borrows one from her friend! On weekdays, she takes models’ photographs and photographs such as perfume for fashion magazines. On Saturday and Sunday, she takes bridal photos. So she lives a busy life.

There were 46 pictures there in total including the ones in her mini gallery, and the sizes were all the same about 20cm×30cm.  Mainly, the photographer took photographs related to water and snow. Both of them gave us impressions of mystery and transparency. Moreover she took photographs of the landscape itself and/or random people in the landscape that were interesting as well. The photographer sent us a message; “I like water because there is no muddiness. I like a shadow because there is a light. I like the sounds of the town. I have a feeling of getting myself watery. Days go on as anybody feels something”.

Yoshihiro Matsuda at the Portrait Gallery: Group 9 'Rock My Sock'

  Our group No.9 went to the show named '視覚の片隅 USA'('The Edge of Vision USA'), which was held in Yotsuya, at the Portrait Gallery, only 3min's walk from Yotsuya JR line, or a ten minute walk from Sophia University. The Portrait Gallery is located on the fifth floor of a modern building. The moment I walked in, I noticed the strong scent of lilies, flowing through room as if the pleasant scent was welcoming us to the gallery. The many lilies that were placed on desks near the door were from different people congratulating the photographer Yoshihiro Matsuda (松田義弘) on the opening of his show. When I looked around, I saw about 10 to 15 people walking about, just giving their utmost attention to each of the pictures displayed in the room. Most of the visitors were elderly people sitting on the sofas looking relaxed with the atmosphere of the gallery. Closing my eyes, I could hear people talking to each other about their experiences in life. Since this gallery was based on the photographer's trip to America, I could hear the people talking about trips they have taken.

            The pictures were displayed on white palettes, as if it were giving emphasis on the photographs. The walls and floor were a tone of gray, giving a soft atmosphere to the gallery. The lighting were not fluorescent, but a warm orange lighting that gave a warm background to the photographs. The gallery itself was not so big, but not so small. There were about 30 to 40 pictures that were displayed. The comfortable and nostalgic atmosphere of the gallery made me want to go back there once again.

  Those photos shown in the gallery were taken during his tourism in the USA, including New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Saint Louis and so on. The pictures were all monochrome, in Black and White.

Actually, we know a little about Matsuda-sensei. He graduated from Nihon University in 1969, and now he is in a professor there. What's more, he is the chairman of 'the Japan Society For Arts and History of Photography'. Although the last time he held a show about the USA, he choose color photos, this time he showed us another world with black and white. It was quite simple, but, "I thought that monochrome can explain better what I saw and feel there", he said.

We all know that USA has many big cities, but I found that when it became black and white, it makes me feel peaceful and intimate. I think that is the purpose why he process his photos and make it bright in the middle but dark in both side, too. 

I am going to explain about the technique he uses. In the gallery, most of his photos were black and white and many of them were quit dark and only focused on a small part. For example one is of a picture which was taken at a park with the sun on the back ground, the sun is the only a bright part and around it is quit dark. If he was using digital camera he can use Photoshop to do it easily on the computer. But the photos were taken in 1970s so he used a film camera and when he print the photo in the darkroom, he make the photo that way. He takes a photo of what he sees in everyday life in the USA. he calls it 視界の片隅(The edge of vision). In the gallery were more than 30 photos. So if he was printing all the photos in the darkroom by himself, That must take long time!

 His photos can be explained as simple as a detail, but with deep thoughts and stories behind them. The photos were processed as black and white, probably a 35mm film. It was interesting that the photography exhibited was both old and new, showing that the photographer had taken a really long time completing this project. All of the pictures focused on the scenery all over the United States, and the subjects were mostly landscapes and architectures. The most impressive I found was a photograph taken at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. The pictures all had the arch, but it was taken from different angles at different times with different people in the background. I think the photographer had done a terrific job at taking them all as making them as if they were not taking the same object. One of my favorite was one with two guys trying not to interrupt the photographer while he was taking the photo. One out of the two was trying to stop the other guy from passing in front of the photo, while the actual guy does not even realize there’s a photo shoot going on. The funny part of this picture was that the story behind this can be predicted just by giving the photo a close look. I don’t think the photographer intended to do this on his photo, but it sure gave a good kick to it.

            In the description of his own collection of the pictures taken in the United States, he wrote that all the pictures taken were scenes captured in his everyday life and that proves that he exists.