Zōkyō

When Tokyo Photographer, John Sypal isn’t literally eating, sleeping, and breathing photography, he is out serendipitously stumbling upon an exquisite little ism in Tokyo that piques as much curiosity as does a two-headed prairie dog. Its called “Tokyo Camera Style,” the notion that cameras are as much as personalized style accessories as they are “tools with which [their wearers] can express their personal taste and private sensibilities”…[and that]…”the relationship one has with their cameras affects their approach to making a picture.”

I was always eh, kinda like consider myself kind of a pioneer of the pentaprism, a camerateur if you will. I’ve wined, dined, sipped and shopped in some of the most demonstrably beamer epitomable camera shops in the Tokyo metropolitan region. Yeah, I’ve bought strange looking Fujipets at Alta. I’ve had dangerous pinholes from the the Camera Box. Well what you get is a gaffer-taped Holga in a UFO catcher loaded with a provocative roll of expired Velvia, and uh, rust. Processed with Campbell’s tomato soup. See I have kinda of a uh…well I ordered my Leica Titan, Christ it was so tough it left the box and it walked down to the end of the counter, camera gal wearing those rhinestone glasses with the little pearl thing clipped on the sweater. My Leica come down, tried to beat the shit out of my digital camera battery. Battery just wasn’t strong enough to defend itself…

Anyway… I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love a good gadget. I managed to acquire a whole used car of of ‘em and drive a different one (or three) everyday depending on how I feel. And inasmuch, I’ve managed to elbow my way on to John’s site a couple of times. Here, here, here, and a few other places. Go check out Tokyo Camera Style to see what the rest of Tokyo is sporting. I guarantee you it aint your mama’s rainbow banana pudding…

Met Daido Moriyama san at Place M again. It was at the opening of his show titled “Northern” and had been previously shown at Rat Hole a few months back. The reason he showed it again was because he just released a new book of the same name. This year is the 30th anniversary of his trip first photo adventure to Hokkaido. The images were stunning to say the least. The prints themselves were of top caliber as they always are.

I had a chance to have a nice discussion with him this time, asking him about a few of the images in particular. It was a real treat to hear a couple of stories behind the images. I also asked him what film and developer he uses; Kodak Tri-X in D76, and whether he still soups and prints his own stuff, to which he said “mochiron” (of course), with the exception of the very large stuff, which he sends to a printer.

All in all a very nice time. To somewhat of a surprise, Masato Seto, Moriyama’s ‘protoge’ and Place M’s owner asked me to please have a show there, which I would love to do, had I a sponsor to help with the costs. If you have any suggestions, don’t hesitate to offer them.