Last night I attended a discussion on street photography by photographer Takehiko Nakafuji, and preeminent photography critic Kotaro Iizawa at Case Tokyo in Shibuya. The exhibition Chihei a collection of current street photography by seven Osaka photographers, served as a backdrop. The conversation between the two touched on the differences in photographers from Osaka vs. Tokyo, the mood of the people and the cities of Osaka vs. Tokyo, and thoughts on the current state of street photography and where it might be going. It was a very interesting two-hour talk.
Other items of interest:
- The Chihei exhibition was curated by Shunji Dodo, and the seven photographers he selected for the show shot all their work from January 1st to March 31st. The publisher requested 50 images from each photographer to curate the exhibition- Jun Abe mailed 250 prints. The publisher noted that each of the photographers who shoot film all submitted more prints than their digital peers.
- Similar to Japanese comedy, both men agreed that Osaka and photographers from Osaka have a “hotter” human touch, resulting in work that is closer, wilder, and more energetic than that made Japan’s capital.
- Nakafuji was in Daido Moriyama’s final class at photo school in 1992 and said students then were assigned by their teacher to shoot 100 rolls of film a month. Active in photo education today, Nakafuji told the audience that students who begin photography with digital cameras shoot far less than students in the film era did. The fact that they’re able to immediately see their image as they think they want it discourages further exposures. In my opinion this is a pity as it caters too much to the expectations of an individual, denying what the camera brings to the table, if one lets it.
- Nakafuji, who shoots both film and digital, said that both approaches are overall the same in his mind regarding the final product, but added that the darkroom is a much easier way to get a good print.