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”.

Group 8 'Orange Juice' Sees 'Nekopathy' at Zen Gallery

copyright Masayuki Nakaya

We went to Zen Photo gallery in Roppongi individually between October 19^th and 21^st.  There was an exhibition of photographs by Masayuki Nakaya who loves cats.  The title of the display was nekopathy which means feelings of cats or cat-like.  I would like to describe what the gallery was like including my impression.

First the gallery looked fine both internally and externally.  Even though the gallery was placed in a building, it seemed as if detached from the rest in a good way.  As we stepped into the room, there was a huge photograph of a cat wrapped up in a big white blanket in front.  After I looked at the photo I noticed that a design of the gallery itself was pretty simple but felt nice and clean.  The walls were all white and the room was bright enough with a fluorescent lamps.  Moreover it had a high ceiling built in well hole style so we could look up at the sky.  I liked a little wooden chair to sit on for a while talking to others and reviewing the photos from the different viewpoints. In total, there were 39 photographs and their sizes were all mixed up.  Since it only took us 2 minutes from Roppongi station, the gallery was convenient to visit.  There were some restaurants nearby as well.

Coming back from gallery saying I have found lots of wonderful things, I think that is the most important thing.

 I'll explain about the history of the gallery. But its history is still short:  Zen photo gallery opened in September 2009, in Shibuya, Tokyo, as a photo gallery which shows photos especially taken in Asian countries. From February 2011, it moved to Roppongi. In June 2009, it was established in Beijing, China, too. So Zen photo gallery has galleries both in Tokyo and Beijing. Its aim is to be a bridge between Japan and China and a platform for the best of traditional and contemporary photography from both countries.

The photographer, Masayuki Nakaya was born in Ehime prefecture and graduated from Matsuyama University and Kuwasawa design school. He lives with four cats and his wife. He loves cats as a subject because they are free, not flattery, and expressive. So, he has taken pictures of cats through 7 or 8 years. He uses a film camera and always keeps it around himself so that he takes pictures which he likes at the moment. When he display his works, he keeps in mind the colors. And, sometimes, he makes some scene for his works. Though he had taken pictures of cats in landscape, he has taken private pictures since four years ago. So, this exhibition was from completely his private, domestic scene.