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. 

'Sleepy Fish' (Group 2) Surface for the 'Portrait Gallery'

  Our group went to a gallery, the Portrait Gallery.  It is located near Sophia University, about a five minute walk from the Yotsuya station, near the Cozy Corner.  It is on the fifth floor of a book store.  The gallery is open everyday, from ten to six except on Golden Week and the days before and after the New Year.

 The Portrait Gallery was organized by the Japan Photo Culture Association which has over three thousand galleries. This gallery was built in July 2002. The gallery was built to help the Japanese culture prosper by using photographs.  For this reason, the gallery exhibits works that were taken by both professional and amateur photographers.

When we went to this gallery, a photo club named Pleasant Club was exhibiting photographs.  This club was established in October 1921, and this exhibition was held to celebrate their ninetieth anniversary. The members include professional, ex-professional, and amateur photographers.  Since there are many people of different ages in this club, the photographs are taken by both film and digital cameras.  There were also both monochrome and colored photographs.  There were over fifty photographs exhibited, and some pictures were ones taken in the Taisho era.

 Another member describes meeting a photographer there:

  I would like to write about a photographer, Akihiro Murayama. Fortunately when we go to this gallery, we were able to meet him and have time to talk to him. Actually he was kind enough to tell us his life story and how he took photographs.

  First, I will write about his life style. He told us that He got interested in photography when he was young because his father was also a photographer. So he had chance to take photographs in his childhood. He now has special feelings for photograph because he has done it for such a long time. But he has not gone to any special art school, he has studied photograph by himself. At present, he belongs to a photograph club, Pleasant Club, which was founded in 1921 and this year this photograph club celebrates their ninetieth anniversary of the foundation. If you want to take part in this photograph club, feel free to make a contact with them. Their office is placed in Setagaya-ku. This time after visiting this art portrait gallery, I learned that being a photographer is not only way to become a professional. Even though Akihiro Murayama is an amateur photographer, his work is very beautiful and I think he is professional photographer. 

This member writes about an image seen at the gallery:

I will write about a photograph taken by Akihiro Murayama. He was at the gallery so we asked him about the picture. The picture was taken at a shrine’s pond in spring. Petals are on the surface and grasses are growing around. We can also see the wave on the surface. According to Akihiro, that wave was made by carp. Carp swam swiftly and the wave’s shape was made circle. The title of the picture is “The last curtain of dance”. I could not understand the meaning of this title. However, this title has deep meaning. “dance” implies “Petals” and “the last curtain” means that petals will sink in the pond at last. Akihiro wanted to say that petals move slowly and that slow moves are beautiful.

Akihiro said that he waited hours and hours to take this one shot. He often goes to

this shrine and takes pictures at the pond. He had taken this shot with color film but

after he took it, he changed the color to black and white. Monochromatic picture shows cool atmosphere than color picture. I could not believe that this picture was taken by amateur. Akihiro’s photographic technique are no inferior to a first class photographer.