(no subject)
Went to see some more photo exhibitions over the weekend.
My favourites, hands down, were two shows put on by Nikon in their "Juna21" program, which highlights young artists.
The first set (although there really wasn't a set order, you can enter the venue through either of the galleries) was entitled 葉陰の肖像, or "Portraits in the shadows of leaves," by Muramatsu Yoshihiro.
A series of insect closeups, the artist had chosen an exceptionally individual language in lighting, most of the photos really dark and moody. He left just enough detail to make for a clear picture, but not make it explanatory of the subject. Very nice stuff, apparently it won him the Nippon Camera yearly award too, well deserved.
(my pics, That's Muramatsu in the second picture, and friends and family in the first)
(Off the Nikon page, too bad they didn't have any larger pics)
The exhibit featured very large prints in various sizes, I thought the variation was a bit too great, but it worked, and it was an interesting juxtaposition with the subjects.
The second one was titled "青の肖像" (Portrait in blue) by Ono Takayuki, a series of pictures of homeless guys. Very honest, beautiful portraiture of incredibly interesting characters. This was my favourite exhibition to date, the kind of pictures I would love to take but am too timid to try. All the pictures were beautifully framed with a white outline, all the same size in a straight line across the walls. Given the similarity of the shots, this worked out beautifully as well.
Talking with the artist, he told me this was his favourite out of the bunch, followed closely by the one on the promo card.
That's one of the most awesome things about these maker-owned galleries: Most of the artists actually take the time to work the door at their own shows, and are completely open for comments and discussion. I talked to both of the artists this time around, very approachable young guys, was good to talk about their process and way of working (ie how Ono approaches his subjects, or their medium - Ono works on film, slightly overexposed, while Muramatsu shoots all his pictures straight to JPEG because of the sheer number of exposures).
After the exhibitions, we shopped a bit at Tokyu Hands, and I finally got a new messenger bag!
It's by a Dutch maker called Khodi, very nice, flexible yet rugged material, tons of inside pockets that are so nicely padded it makes me want to use it as a pillow!
And, well, look at it. It just looks like it was made for me.
And of course I did take some pictures of my own:
When we were at the Olympus Gallery, Wakako found a flyer for a photo contest asking for pictures of Shinjuku - just like 90% of mine! So after doing some serious curating, I'll probably send in a few of my pics and see how far I get. There's prizes ranging from a trip to Guam to fancy dinners and an Epson pro selection printer - I'd really like that printer.
My favourites, hands down, were two shows put on by Nikon in their "Juna21" program, which highlights young artists.
The first set (although there really wasn't a set order, you can enter the venue through either of the galleries) was entitled 葉陰の肖像, or "Portraits in the shadows of leaves," by Muramatsu Yoshihiro.
A series of insect closeups, the artist had chosen an exceptionally individual language in lighting, most of the photos really dark and moody. He left just enough detail to make for a clear picture, but not make it explanatory of the subject. Very nice stuff, apparently it won him the Nippon Camera yearly award too, well deserved.
(my pics, That's Muramatsu in the second picture, and friends and family in the first)
(Off the Nikon page, too bad they didn't have any larger pics)
The exhibit featured very large prints in various sizes, I thought the variation was a bit too great, but it worked, and it was an interesting juxtaposition with the subjects.
The second one was titled "青の肖像" (Portrait in blue) by Ono Takayuki, a series of pictures of homeless guys. Very honest, beautiful portraiture of incredibly interesting characters. This was my favourite exhibition to date, the kind of pictures I would love to take but am too timid to try. All the pictures were beautifully framed with a white outline, all the same size in a straight line across the walls. Given the similarity of the shots, this worked out beautifully as well.
Talking with the artist, he told me this was his favourite out of the bunch, followed closely by the one on the promo card.
That's one of the most awesome things about these maker-owned galleries: Most of the artists actually take the time to work the door at their own shows, and are completely open for comments and discussion. I talked to both of the artists this time around, very approachable young guys, was good to talk about their process and way of working (ie how Ono approaches his subjects, or their medium - Ono works on film, slightly overexposed, while Muramatsu shoots all his pictures straight to JPEG because of the sheer number of exposures).
After the exhibitions, we shopped a bit at Tokyu Hands, and I finally got a new messenger bag!
It's by a Dutch maker called Khodi, very nice, flexible yet rugged material, tons of inside pockets that are so nicely padded it makes me want to use it as a pillow!
And, well, look at it. It just looks like it was made for me.
And of course I did take some pictures of my own:
When we were at the Olympus Gallery, Wakako found a flyer for a photo contest asking for pictures of Shinjuku - just like 90% of mine! So after doing some serious curating, I'll probably send in a few of my pics and see how far I get. There's prizes ranging from a trip to Guam to fancy dinners and an Epson pro selection printer - I'd really like that printer.