tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44773935430107472202024-03-14T22:52:56.210+09:00Torin Boyd's Photo Japan:tbphotoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03172437518597227030noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4477393543010747220.post-63893631741651673492017-06-09T18:58:00.002+09:002017-06-10T02:25:18.439+09:00A Day in the Life of Japan and the Fuji Film caper<div style="line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: medium;">By Torin Boyd</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">Tokyo, Japan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">June 9, 2017</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">When the “A Day in the Life of Japan” book project took place on June 7, 1985 it was touted as being photographed by the 100 of the world’s leading photojournalists. Impossible as it seemed, project directors Rick Smolan and David Cohen managed to pull this feat off resulting in a large format coffee table book in a little over nine months time from concept to finish. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This was not their first DITL book as they had worked out a formula from previous projects; Australia (1981), Hawaii (1983) and Canada (1984). But in addition to the immense logistics involved, these projects were expensive and bookstore sales didn’t come close to covering production costs. For Japan, the total costs of the project was approximately $3.5 million including a massive print run. As a way to finance these projects, Rick and David turned to sponsorship and like magicians pulling rabbits out of their hats, convinced major corporations to fund or underwrite them. What they promised their sponsors in return was good publicity and several copies of the book. The only caveat attached was absolutely no editorial control. For A Day in the Life of Japan, the major corporate sponsors included American Express, Japan Airlines, Hilton Hotels, Apple Computer, Olympus Camera and Kodak.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In March 1985 as the project was gearing up, I was part of a small group of staffers preparing to move the DITL offices from New York to Tokyo where we were to relocate for two months. As we were busy staging everything, David Cohen traveled to Rochester to seek sponsorship from Ray DeMoulin, a Vice President of Kodak. When he left, he was confident of securing film and processing, but this time he’d also be asking for cash. This had David feeling a little uneasy, but when he returned he came bearing good news that Kodak was onboard. We were all curious as to how he pulled this off and David replied; “I simply told Kodak that since Fuji Film bagged the official film sponsorship for the 1984 Summer Olympics (in Los Angeles), this was Kodak’s chance to stick to Fuji on their own turf”. When Kodak heard that they jumped at the opportunity to sponsor A Day in the Life of Japan and committed 4000 rolls of film plus processing in addition to an infusion of much needed cash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">After setting up in Tokyo and working at a frenetic pace, the shoot day arrived and 135,000 photographs were taken by the army of photographers. So much film was shot that it took Kodak a week to process all the film through their Japanese labs. As the the dust settled, the book was edited in Tokyo and laid out in New York and published in time for the Christmas holiday season.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But then there was a wrinkle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">For every DITL book, a group photo is made of all the photographers that's included in the book. For the Japan book, the location of this photo was in front of Japan’s Imperial Palace in the center of Tokyo (above). </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The photographer tasked with this job was Neal Slavin, who decided to use an unrelated Japanese commercial photographer as a prop. In Japan, these kind of photographers of “kinen shashin” or commemorative photographs can be found at most major tourist spots. Neal who is a master of the group photo, composed his photo with his umbrella sticking out of the left side of the frame and the Japanese photographer adjusting his camera in the lower right corner. What was interesting about this, this on-site photographer was hired by us to make his photograph and was portrayed in the act of making his photograph. Essentially a photograph within a photograph.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But what no one was aware at the time, the kinen shashin photographer had inserted a Fuji Film tab onto the back of his camera, a common practice for many professional photographers used to identify the type of film loaded into their cameras. Unfortunately a green Fuji swatch was visible in the published photograph, noticeable only if you looked closely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">When Kodak discovered this, a small panic ensued as the group shot was not only printed across two pages inside, but also on the back cover. As mentioned earlier, sponsors were given copies of the book, usually in the form of special slipcase editions custom made for each sponsor. In Kodak’s case this equaled 2000 books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As a way to rectify the situation, David Cohen enlisted me to travel up to Kodak in Rochester, along with my two older brothers armed with a case of Sharpie pens. There we worked late into the night in Kodak’s mail distribution center inking out the little green spots from all the pages. We worked in an assembly line fashion removing the books from their slip cases, inking out the green, giving them time to dry and then carefully re-inserting the books back. That totaled 4000 spots retouched and Kodak was delighted by the quick fix.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As for some of the regular edition books still being printed in Japan, these were flagged and had the spots removed. Even so, a few of the earlier editions got through and were circulated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">If anyone reading this ever comes across a Kodak edition, get yourself a lupe and check out this little known secret. This in an odd way is a rare edition, something comparable to a misprinted postage stamp.</span></div>
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tbphotoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03172437518597227030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4477393543010747220.post-90567682266080528622011-10-18T17:05:00.002+09:002011-10-19T13:50:04.151+09:00Diary of a traffic accident in Shinjuku<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0q7jar1SxU5uwcSdUwMPuKkN99PlxL64D3ZsKO7NXcqIs9fsC3Gu4aciQdVAe7W1iZpI20QLjmkbIwQz8XNtHnfmZ7U1GIAbuqYgTNDP_wVUqcZ-HCN3gxK2DCt2iSheOhUnHw8HMM4nD/s1600/Bike_accident_043_LR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0q7jar1SxU5uwcSdUwMPuKkN99PlxL64D3ZsKO7NXcqIs9fsC3Gu4aciQdVAe7W1iZpI20QLjmkbIwQz8XNtHnfmZ7U1GIAbuqYgTNDP_wVUqcZ-HCN3gxK2DCt2iSheOhUnHw8HMM4nD/s640/Bike_accident_043_LR.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Underneath my balcony: Taxi driver, in lavender shirt, next to injured motorcyclist being aided by a paramedic. Oct. 18, 2011. ©Torin Boyd.</span></i></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By Torin Boyd</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tokyo</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once again, a story that starts at breakfast. This time as I was beginning the day, I heard a commotion taking place outside my apartment building.</span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I live in an apartment building in Tokyo overlooking a park called Shinjuku Gyoen. Over the past year I've been making a series of images from here in what I call "</span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150249861090606.341863.687495605&type=3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Room With a View - Home Sweet Shinjuku</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">". This is just a casual series of images illustrating the changing seasons, wildlife, pedestrians, garbage collections, earthquakes, brownouts, and the occasional passing blimp.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But today there was an unexpected twist. As I went out onto the balcony to investigate this noise, I saw that directly below me was a traffic accident involving a motorcyclist and a taxi driver. Fortunately, the guy on the bike appeared to have </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">only </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">sustained minor injuries. He was sitting, talking to the taxi driver and making phone calls. A few minutes later the police arrived, followed by an ambulance which took the injured man to the hospital. After that, more police showed up, then the fire department, and yet another ambulance. At least fifteen emergency responders had shown up as Japan is a country of overkill in regards to public </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">servants and public safety. This is not such a bad thing though.</span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> </div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But there is another over abundant work force in Japan which does warrant concern. These are the armies of overworked, over-stressed, underpaid, and sometimes under-qualified taxi drivers who clog the streets of Japan's cities. This is much a result of Japan's deregulation of the taxi industry in 2003 which led to an increase of new cab companies, cutthroat competition, lower wages and longer hours for drivers. There has also been a spike in accidents involving cabbies since then, as well as a number of lawsuits being filed by labor unions on behalf of the drivers. Something to think about when hailing a cab home after a late night out in Roppongi.</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dAK-LDDZDheaSHcqxwEWnFZ7vFW_lQWKEFgLouBPu6URnKNVKFnCjTxddNY09jlEWZ6U5ud9z50NwCL4GzCdJxLRAJzEsD8ZedEkpR-XADMFm4I60zJH5ItVo8oJVL99_kNBrOP-P28Y/s1600/Bike_accident_066_LR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dAK-LDDZDheaSHcqxwEWnFZ7vFW_lQWKEFgLouBPu6URnKNVKFnCjTxddNY09jlEWZ6U5ud9z50NwCL4GzCdJxLRAJzEsD8ZedEkpR-XADMFm4I60zJH5ItVo8oJVL99_kNBrOP-P28Y/s640/Bike_accident_066_LR.jpg" width="425" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Photographs by Torin Boyd, </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">© </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">2011 and may not be published, used, or copied without permission.</span></i></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOpfaoM-JbWxikoYQWCd_JetcHXKm3I5euNRQKF6rk-nlll7wowM7NLhSf4irB36YAEpVUpbCCaPrsVsnIB5xP_5BzMX-l-ti699iPQEnh3q3JmBJ3iqpQs9wIqZ1K6lPs7B9EL0A-TaR/s1600/Bike_accident_144_LR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYesLSkWpJJwObx1oAqJQJvtC-2dXgswjE5gUellDmmR2iODQoAMJWUAobZOEDVMb6RPjesT9CfKLKmJTPLP19jwleMaQcXCAHKsozBzpU7a4lCxndCOa674QC6XBNsIhGmy0hRbRwWm7T/s1600/Bike_accident_089_LR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYesLSkWpJJwObx1oAqJQJvtC-2dXgswjE5gUellDmmR2iODQoAMJWUAobZOEDVMb6RPjesT9CfKLKmJTPLP19jwleMaQcXCAHKsozBzpU7a4lCxndCOa674QC6XBNsIhGmy0hRbRwWm7T/s640/Bike_accident_089_LR.jpg" width="640" /></span></i></span></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Outside Apple's flagship Japan store in Tokyo's Ginza district. Oct. 7, 2011. Photo by <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Geneva; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">©</span></i></span></b></span>Torin Boyd.</span></i></span></b><br />
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<b>By Torin Boyd</b><br />
Tokyo<br />
<br />
Last week, I started Thursday morning as usual; breakfast, check my mails, then pore over New York Times online. But when I did, I was saddened to learn that Steve Jobs had just passed away.<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">As I scrolled through the articles, reading about the loss of this great man, I began to feel the sad poetry of that moment. Here I was reading about his life and death from my Macintosh computer, a device whose every detail was personally scrutinized by Jobs, all the way down to the placement of the Apple logo. One of the articles I read that morning quoted President Barak Obama which echoed that same sentiment:</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><i>"The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented".</i></div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Although it may seem cliche to say so, Steve Jobs really did affect my life. His machines have been so intertwined with my life and most importantly my career. I have been a Mac user for over half my life and this was not by my own choosing. Apple Computer chose me.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">It all started in March, 1985 when I was a 23 year old photojournalism student. I had managed to secure a summer internship in New York with Rick Smolan and David Cohen, the infamous duo responsible for the “A Day in the Life” book series in which a swarm of the world’s best photographers capture a country in a single day. I thought I would be hanging out in New York all summer, but when I arrived their office, the first thing I was asked was if I had a passport. I said no, as I had never been out of the country. I was told to get one immediately for in a few weeks we would be leaving for Japan to make the book A Day in the Life of Japan.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The next few weeks were a blur and by mid April I found myself in Tokyo, Japan, sitting at a desk starring at this odd looking box called an Apple Macintosh computer. I was told to quickly learn how to use it, and Rick, who always made everyone feel at ease, gave me a tutorial and got me going right away. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">In a few days I was using the Mac with ease and the project soon progressed in the typical Rick and David fashion. That is, they seemed to thrive best when faced with insurmountable odds and impossible deadlines.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Work was nonstop, but there was never a dull moment. The daily parade of visitors to our offices and nightly dinner parties were unbelievable. Famous photographers, photo editors, writers, TV crews, and Japan experts were constantly dropping by. One, was the legendary Japanese photographer Hiroshi Hamaya who we took on as an advisor and all around Grand Poobah. After hours we would hang out with him at our hotel bar which we dubbed “Hamaya University”. Others, like Arnold Drapkin, the Director of Photography for Time Magazine showed up and casually hung around for a week or so. The daily streams of VIPs never stopped. As a young photographer, this was the life. I had a front row seat to this amazing project in a country that was equally intriguing as it was mysterious. I was in a photographic playground.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">But then came the day when Steve Jobs paid us a visit.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">For all of the Day in the LIfe projects, corporate sponsorship is essential. Rick had secured us office space at Apple Computer Japan’s headquarters in Tokyo. Also in his wizard-like ability for garnering sponsorship, he got Apple to commit to give every photographer on the project a Mac Plus (800K), complete with a dot matrix printer and floppy drive. The photographers had a choice for working on this project: a $2000 payment, or the Mac which was worth more than double that amount. Suffice to say, almost everyone chose the Mac.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">But as were a few weeks shy from 100 of the world’s best photojournalists arriving Tokyo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made an unannounced and surprised visit to Apple Japan. He was hurriedly given a tour of the small premises. As Jobs was unaware of Apple’s sponsorship of our project, when he came upon us he asked, “who are these guys”. He waltzed in, and all of us just froze. Jobs entered behind me and stopped just inches to my left as I was typing away on my Mac. We were introduced, and our leader Rick Smolan, the master salesmen explained the project and Apple's involvement. There were at least seven photographers in the room then, but we were in such awe we forget we even had cameras at our desks. Not a single photo was taken. Rick however was very concerned that by the end of the day we would be booted from the premises.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Fortunately, about a half hour later Jobs came back and began taking an interest in what we were doing. Rick and David showed him everything about the project. We later realized that our project was probably the most interesting aspect of Jobs' visit to Apple Japan that day. We got to keep our Apple endorsement, and when I look back at it, this was Jobs in his truest form. We had appealed to his creative sensibilities and he quickly reciprocated.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">A Day in the Life of Japan took place on Friday June 7, 1985 and over 100,000 photos were taken that day, resulting in a large format coffee table book. It was a time capsule of Japan at the height of it's 1980's economic growth period, and now such an important document of that era.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Four months later Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple at age 30.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">As for me, a year later in August, 1986 I returned to Japan and have been living here ever since. Of course using Apple computers all the way. But in learning of Jobs' death last week, it also dawned upon me that when I both met Jobs and also learned of his passing, my fingers were at the keyboard of a Macintosh computer.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Yes, there is strong poetry in that.<br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Cover photo by Jodi Cobb. </span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div></div><b></b></div></div></div>tbphotoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03172437518597227030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4477393543010747220.post-18718955900423005562011-10-11T11:27:00.000+09:002011-10-11T14:05:57.268+09:00Tokyo Photo 2011 - Japan's only photo art fair<div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">By Torin Boyd</div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbssHgyGOIcFEhDXqrQfjF1VfqvUmdt4rnIpItVaKap2eRNhWHJ3ryX4LiH_8s5LZf2fbqgd6Ab85-SL3ur13m2px5x7Z6izSWYOgPBOwZhlrpHRqy8w9forZLsQvmDQUB13cFQzcosAYB/s1600/Tokyo_Photo_2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbssHgyGOIcFEhDXqrQfjF1VfqvUmdt4rnIpItVaKap2eRNhWHJ3ryX4LiH_8s5LZf2fbqgd6Ab85-SL3ur13m2px5x7Z6izSWYOgPBOwZhlrpHRqy8w9forZLsQvmDQUB13cFQzcosAYB/s400/Tokyo_Photo_2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Billed as "Asia's leading international photography fair", Tokyo Photo 2011 took place on September 23-25 amid the shadow of the triple disasters that devastated Japan earlier in the year. Held at the sprawling Tokyo Midtown complex in central Tokyo, this event, now in its third year is Japan's first and only photographic art fair of its kind.<br />
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Founded in 2009 by art promoter <a href="http://metropolis.co.jp/features/upfront2/q-a/tomohiro-harada/">Tomohiro Harada</a>, this year's fair attracted some of Japan's top photo galleries, as well as a handful of international dealers. Other events included lectures, charity print auctions for tsunami and quake victims, and special photo exhibitions.<br />
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But turnout was lower than expected with only 10,000 visitors attending, nearly the same as last year. According to Harada, "we were anticipating between 15,000 to 20,000 visitors this year, but perhaps we placed too much emphasis on quake and tsunami charity, causing the public to think this was a charity event rather than a photo fair. He went on, "The quake and nuclear meltdown had such a negative impact on the art market in Japan, plus overseas dealers who had expressed interest in attending prior to the disasters, stayed away due to radiation fears".<br />
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Even so, this was a well produced event worthy of any international photo fair. But with only 21 dealers exhibiting who mostly experienced moderate sales, Tokyo Photo needs to expand its base of both exhibitors and attendees. Harada explained, "The art market in Japan is still somewhat idle and the current emphasis with many dealers is on first-time buyers and younger customers".<br />
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As for what was being offered at this show, this was the most impressive assemblage of modern Japanese photography ever offered under one roof. Many of the big name artists were here: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Nobuyoshi Araki, Daido Moriyama, and Toshio Shibata. But many new and emerging Japanese artists were also well represented--all at what seemed like very reasonable prices. As for international artists, they were in the minority at this show.<br />
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Also conspicuously missing was pre-World War II Japanese art photography, Pictorialism and 19th-century works. However one Tokyo gallery, <a href="http://mem-inc.jp/index_e">MEM</a>, was offering vintage 1930s prints by Osamu Shiihara, a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampei_Photography_Club">Tampei Photography Club</a>, as well as a limited edition portfolio by 1930s Japanese avant-garde photo pioneer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwata_Nakayama">Iwata Nakayama</a>. This was recently printed under the supervision of Nakayama's estate and photo historian Ryuichi Kaneko.<br />
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Concerning Japanese contemporary works, throughout the show numerous bargains could be had in the $1,000-$5,000 range. These included both young and established artists because Japan is still a buyers' market, even with the highly inflated Japanese yen.<br />
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Some standouts of the fair were <a href="http://www.emoninc.com/">EMON PHOTO GALLERY</a> of Tokyo which displayed superb color prints by emerging artist <a href="http://www.ryoohwada.com/2010file/2010Frameset-3.html">Ryo Ohwada</a> from his bonsai tree and red wine series in the $2,000 to $6,000 range. Emon was also displaying large fantasy cityscape collages by Sohei Nishino from his "Diorama Map" series in editions of five (in the $25,000 range).<br />
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Another interesting exhibitor was <a href="http://www.zen-foto.jp/web/html/about.html">Zen Foto Gallery</a> of Tokyo. This new gallery established in 2009 by British ex-pat Mark Pearson had a wonderful mix of Japanese and Chinese contemporary artists. One was the Japanese documentary photographer Kazuo Kitai whose large format silver gelatin prints of rural China blended well with the eclectic mix of other images on display. This included works by Liu Zheng, Wang Ningde, Mao Ishikawa and Takahiko Nakafuji. In addition to the prints, Pearson was selling a number of high quality limited edition photo books published by his gallery. Zen also opened a second gallery in Beijing last year, so this is a gallery to watch.<br />
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Also exhibiting was <a href="http://www.pgi.ac/index.php?lang=en">Photo Gallery International</a> or PGI. Founded in 1979, this is one of the oldest and most reputable photo galleries in Japan. Exhibiting for the first time at Tokyo Photo, they had their usual big name artists on display including Issei Suda, Yasuhiro Ishimoto and Michiko Kon. But the works by <a href="http://www.pgi.ac/content/view/191/63/lang,en/">Soeno Kazuyuki</a> from his "Fossil of Light" series were some of the most interesting. These images were a series of enlarged black and white photograms of insect wings, found on roadsides after being hit by cars. The 44-year-old Soeno started this project after being hit by a car and being severely injured. His beautiful one-of-a-kind prints could be had for under a $1,000.<br />
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International dealers at the fair included <a href="http://www.danzigerprojects.com/gallery/">Danzinger Gallery</a> of New York, <a href="http://www.torchgallery.com/">Torch Gallery</a> and <a href="http://www.tenhaafprojects.com/">Ten Haaf Projects</a> from Amsterdam, and <a href="http://www.ratio3.org/">Ratio 3</a> of San Francisco. This West Coast gallery showcased large-format monochrome nudes by Ryan McGinley whose image "Butterfly" was used as the promotional image for this year's fair. Also attending was Magnum Photos, which focused more on limited edition books and had only a small number of prints. Magnum had little Japanese material, which according to Junko Ogawa of Magnum Tokyo, was due to the fact that "we wanted to promote all Magnum photographers, rather than just Japanese-themed works at this fair".<br />
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Besides the galleries exhibiting here, there were two impressive photo exhibitions taking place. One, a charity exhibition for the Tohoku Earthquake presented by the Embassy of France in Tokyo, included images by famed photographers Kishin Shinoyama and Rinko Kawauchi, along with other Japanese and French artists. The second, curated by Simon Baker of the Tate Modern, featured images by British art photographer <a href="http://www.chrisshawphotos.book.fr/">Chris Shaw</a> from his "Night Porter" series juxtaposed with works by Japanese masters.<br />
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As for the future of Tokyo Photo, Harada and his staff are already busy planning next year's show. This seems to be a trend in Asia as photo and art fairs are now taking place in Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Even though the art market in Japan is still reeling from the economic decline of the 1990s, the art market in the broader Asia seems to be in full swing.<br />
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To see more about Tokyo Photo 2012, please visit: <a href="http://www.tokyophoto.org/en">www.tokyophoto.org/en</a><br />
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</div></div><div style="font: 12.0px Geneva; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"></div>tbphotoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03172437518597227030noreply@blogger.com0