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“The Other Side of Tokyo,Japan” About this photo exhibition site
This online photo exhibition features works by Kiichi Kitahara, an amateur photographer.
All of the photographs on display were taken using a 35mm black and white film, and after self-developing the film, the negatives were digitally duplicated (scanned) with a digital camera.
The theme of the photographs in this online photo exhibition is “The Other Side of Tokyo“.
It is not the natural scenery of Japan’s beautiful and colorful rows of cherry blossom trees and autumnal trees, or the clean and modern cityscape of Tokyo.
In contrast, I want foreigners to know the “The Other Side of Tokyo” which is hidden behind the superficial beauty, which no one usually looks at. The photographs taken mainly in the Ginza area are exhibited.
I started taking photographs on this theme when I realized that there was a difference in the aesthetic sense of photography between Japanese and Westerners.
It seems that Japanese and Asians tend to prefer colorful, high-definition photographs, but I learned that Westerners do not just prefer colorful and beautiful photographs.
Westerners “feel the beauty of unordered and cluttered modeling.”
I feel like I have that kind of sensibility.
On the back street of Tokyo Ginza, piping, wiring, outdoor units, etc. crawl on the back of the old building in a cluttered manner without any planning.
There is no sense of planned beauty.
In addition, in Tokyo, where undergrounding of electric wires has hardly progressed, electric wires are stretched all over the road.
However, it seems that there are many Westerners who are interested in such piping, wiring, outdoor units, electric wires, and utility poles.
In a sense, these things can be regarded as “natural beauty of modeling born from necessity”.
There may be few Japanese people who feel the beauty there, but for foreigners, I think that it is exactly “the natural beauty of modeling that has come to be.”
Another way to look at it is that in some parts of France, the outdoor units of air conditioners spoil the aesthetics of the city, so I’ve heard that some areas prohibit the use of air conditioners themselves.
In Japan, there are very few regulations that prioritize the aesthetic sense of buildings, based on the idea that each person has a different way of thinking about beauty.
Therefore, I have heard that architects from other countries say, “Japanese architects are envious because they can design freely.”
In the West, it may be said that architects can only design buildings according to established aesthetic concepts.
Westerners may want to be free from such an implanted, established aesthetic concept.
I decided to send “Japan’s unique modeling beauty” from Tokyo, Japan to the world.
The feature of this “The Other Side of Tokyo,Japan” photo project is that it is classified into each series such as “Facade” series, “Wall” series, “Alley” series and so on.
When I took a photograph of “The Other Side of Tokyo,Japan“, in order to express the tone woven by the dirt of the building as beautifully as possible, in addition to selecting the film and developer, development time, development temperature, Agitation, exposure, film sensitivity, etc. have been adjusted.
The photos on display at this web photo exhibition are digital images created by digital duplication, so they are different from the tone of the gelatin silver print printed on the baryta photographic paper, but adjusted to be the same as the tone on the straight print photographic paper.
I think that the finished form of a film photographic work is a print on baryta photographic paper, and I am working on the work.
We hope you enjoy the “The Other Side of Tokyo” at this online photo exhibition.
About This Site | Tokyo Japan Film Photography | Photography of the Other Side of Tokyo Japan