I've been busy with school for the past couple of months and I haven't really been working on the blog. I promise to share my experience about school so that I can digest the firehose of information and actually reflect on what I have learned.
So anyway = ) here is the second part of Ume Kayo's Television Interview. I really find her photography refreshing, fun, and light. Compared to war and conflict photojournalism, Ume Kayo's photographs are an antidote, in my opinion, for all the wrong that the world has experiened. So here is the English translation of her interview. Kindly search my blog if you want to see a group interview with Kishin Shinoyama, Ume Kayo, Rinko Kawauchi, and Yurie Nagashima. = )
VIDEO 2
00:00
Interviewer: You have a lot of photos… I picked some of my favorites.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: So let’s see them.
Ume Kayo: OK.
Interviewer: There’s nothing happening but this is…
Ume Kayo: Oh this one? You really are something… great.
Interviewer: Really?
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: What’s happening?
Ume Kayo: I like this one too.
Interviewer: Ok.
Ume Kayo: I was walking by the hospital.
Interviewer: Hospital?
Ume Kayo: Yes. I went there and looked in the room and it was like this. I thought it was interesting so I took a photo.
Interviewer: All of them are really paying attention to something.
Ume Kayo: Right? That made me wonder what’s happening.
Interviewer: Yes, yes. They must pose like that unconsciously.
Ume Kayo: It’s kind of like they’re sexy idols.
Interviewer: Yes. They are not thinking and not ready for anything, so you could take a picture like that.
Ume Kayo: Right.
00:56
Interviewer: So I heard you came here before.
Ume Kayo: Yes, I was telling my friends that I really wanted to see you. So my friends and I came to see this show.
Interviewer: Oh, really?
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: There’s usually an audience?
Ume Kayo: Yes. So we were in the audience with a lot of old ladies around my mother’s age. And I saw you and got so excited. I could see Kimimaro Ayanokoji (Japanese comedian) too.
Interviewer: So he was the guest for that day?
Ume Kayo: Yes. I was really excited. What was really surprising was that you kept your energy high from the beginning to end.
Interviewer: Oh, really?
Ume Kayo: Yes. You have great strength.
Interviewer: I think I’m average.
Ume Kayo: Really? We were saying you were awesome on the way home. And also we took a picture.
Interviewer: Oh, we did?
Ume Kayo: Yes. With Kimimaro, with you, with the ladies in the audience and my friends.
Interviewer: Yea, yea. And were you in that too?
Ume Kayo: Yes, I was.
Interviewer: That’s good.
02:00
Ume Kayo: Yes, that’s one of my great memories.
Interviewer: That’s great.
Ume Kayo: Yes, it really is.
Interviewer: We always invite some audience members in here and take pictures with guests for them to take it to home after we film the show.
Ume Kayo: Yes, right.
Interviewer: That’s good.
Ume Kayo: Yes. I was really happy. But I never thought I was going to be here as a guest, I thought it’s some kind of CG or something when I saw myself on the screen. Just me.
Interviewer: But why did you want to meet me?
Ume Kayo: Why? Umm…I was seeing you on TV all the time and… I don’t know. I like you a lot.
Interviewer: Well…
Ume Kayo: There are lots of people who like you.
Interviewer: You think so? Then say hi to them for me.
Ume Kayo: My friends are watching together now too.
Interviewer: Oh, really? Then tell them I said hi.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: I’m happy to hear that especially from young people.
Ume Kayo: A lot of my friends like you.
Interviewer: Really?
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: That makes me happy. I’ve been working on TV for 57 years but that still makes me happy when I hear someone talks about me like that.
Ume Kayo: My sister is also here today.
Interviewer: Really? Oh, that sister who kissed your grandfather’s head?
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: Oh, ok. I like your clothing today.
Ume Kayo: Today is a big day for me so I ran to a shopping mall and got these.
03:14
Interviewer: I don’t know which shopping mall but it must be a nice one.
Ume Kayo: Really? I’m glad to hear that from you and I’m getting sweaty at the same time.
Interviewer: And your stockings are very, umm… bold.
Ume Kayo: Bold!?
Interviewer:I can tell who’s walking from far away.
Ume Kayo: Haha, can you?
Interviewer: And that’s great. Your nails are yellow too…
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: Do you like to do it?
Ume Kayo: Oh nails? Yes. I color my nails but I don’t really put make up on. I have it on today only because somebody helped me. I’m happy about that.
Interviewer: You look pretty.
Ume Kayo: Oh, thank you very much.
Interviewer: Ok then let’s see another photo.
Ume Kayo: Oh, that’s right. I’m feeling hot.
Interviewer: Are you ok?
Ume Kayo: Yes.
03:58
Interviewer: How can this boy do that?
Ume Kayo: Ok, this is the photo when I went to an elementary school and…
Interviewer: Is that his tongue? Can he do that with his tongue? I’ve seen some people who can do that but I don’t know how.
Ume Kayo: He proudly showed me.
Interviewer: Yea?
Ume Kayo: I don’t know how to do it though. I can’t do it.
Interviewer: I can’t either. It’s wonderful.
Ume Kayo: I felt the same way.
Interviewer: It’s a good photo for him to see when he’s older.
Ume Kayo: I think so.
Interviewer: He can think back about what he was doing when he was little.
Ume Kayo: I think maybe he didn’t know what this photo was for when I took it.
Interviewer: Cute. How about this?
04:28
Ume Kayo: This is, um… it’s my neighborhood. Kids were talking on the street. If you look close you can see the kids have good faces.
Interviewer: Haha!
Ume Kayo: I wonder what they’re meeting for.
Interviewer: They are all serious, aren’t they?
Ume Kayo:Right?
Interviewer: This is a great one too.
Ume Kayo: I agree.
Interviewer: It looks like they are trying to put something in it.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: They could be trying to take something out or maybe they can’t open it… or something like that.
Ume Kayo: I think so. Or else, I mean, I usually don’t get to see everyone’s back. Something must be happening.
Interviewer: But… life is funny, isn’t it? We can feel them panicking even though it’s just a photo.
Ume Kayo: Right.
Interviewer:Even though I wasn’t there.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: Cutting out those moments is your style.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: So you are always holding your camera.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: And you take photos when you see something interesting?
Ume Kayo: Yes, that’s right.
05:26
Interviewer: Let’s see the boys picture.
Ume Kayo: OK.
Interviewer: What’s happening?
Ume Kayo: They are showing off for me. I heard they were playing “Hit Man”, and the paper airplane is a gun, those three kids were killed but…. Umm… They are something.
Interviewer: But this boy… This boy is so in to it. It’s like he is in a movie or something.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: Oh, that was really funny.
Ume Kayo: They were serious.
Interviewer: Hahaha!
Ume Kayo: They were great.
Interviewer: That boy on the ground is really…
Ume Kayo: Isn’t he great?
Interviewer: Hahaha!
Ume Kayo: That boy back there, I can’t even see his face.
Interviewer: Yes.
Ume Kayo: Their acting is awesome.
Interviewer: That’s true. Kids are funny. And what’s this?
Ume Kayo: They told me that they are pretending to be “bad boys.”
Interviewer: Of course.
Ume Kayo: Then they rode my bicycle…
Interviewer: Oh is this yours?
Ume Kayo: Yes, it’s not in good shape though.
Interviewer: So they are acting, right?
06:30
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: Like “bad boys.”
Ume Kayo:By stick their tongues out, yes.
Interviewer: I see. I like this one.
Ume Kayo: Oh. This photo was taken from outside of a phone booth.
Interviewer: Is this a phone booth?
Ume Kayo: Yes. Like kids always do, he put his face on the glass door of the phone booth and was playing.
Interviewer: Hahaha! Does he like to do this?
Ume Kayo: I guess.
Interviewer: I wonder why they do this.
Ume Kayo: Right? But they always do that when they see glass.
Interviewer: But I do it sometimes myself.
Ume Kayo: What? Do you do that? Really?
Interviewer: I try it myself and do like this… and I think my face must be funny right now.
Ume Kayo: Wait, what is it? Can I take a picture now?
Interviewer: Sure you can.
Ume Kayo: Ok. That’s a great face. Really! This is so cute.
Interviewer: Hahaha!
Ume Kayo: I took an awesome picture….
Interviewer: I like doing like this when nobody’s around me.
Ume Kayo: Why do you do it by yourself?
Interviewer: Sometimes my lips are on the glass to make funnier faces.
07:25
Ume Kayo: Really? That’s awesome. Hahaha!
Interviewer: Let’s go to the next one. This boy is really funny. I heard he was screaming?
Ume Kayo: He was saying: “Hey Ume Kayo!! Don’t take any pictures, Ume Kayo!!”
Interviewer: Hahaha! He said: “Don’t do it Ume Kayo”?
Ume Kayo: He was mad. He was like “Don’t do it!! Just go home!!”
Interviewer: I see.
Ume Kayo: But he is grown up now. I think he is around 20.
Interviewer: Oh was it taken that long ago?
Ume Kayo: This is 10 years ago.
Interviewer: Really?
Ume Kayo: When I was in school in Osaka.
Interviewer: Look at his legs.
Ume Kayo: Yes, those legs.
Interviewer: Look at the way he runs.
Ume Kayo: Right. The way he runs.
Interviewer: I feel like I can hear him saying: “Don’t do it Ume Kayo!”
Ume Kayo: He is definitely tying to be cool. He looks serious.
Interviewer: They learn that from watching adults.
08:16
Ume Kayo: I agree.
Interviewer: So that boy is already 20?
Ume Kayo: Yes, he is.
Interviewer: Really?
Ume Kayo: I heard he had a baby.
Interviewer: Oh, really?
Ume Kayo: And I was shocked.
Interviewer: And he still calls you “Ume Kayo”?
Ume Kayo: Yes, “Ume Kayo.”
Interviewer: And he told you that he had a baby?
Ume Kayo: I contacted him because I was wondering how he was doing, so I messaged him. Then he said: “My baby was born.”
Interviewer: Hahaha! “My baby was born”?
Ume Kayo: It was shocking. I thought he was lying but it’s true.
Interviewer: Hahaha! “My baby was born”?
Ume Kayo: He has two kids already.
Interviewer: Two?
Ume Kayo: Already, yes. There were two babies. The second was born one year after his first.
Interviewer: Did you take any photos?
Ume Kayo: I haven’t seen them in person yet. So…
Interviewer: Oh only e-mail?
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: So you’ve only seen a picture of them?
Ume Kayo: Yes. I was really shocked though.
Interviewer: That’s interesting. So, what do you think about pictures via e-mail?
Ume Kayo: I don’t use it at all.
Interviewer: You don’t?
Ume Kayo: No. It has a delay after you push the button. Do you use it?
09:10
Interviewer: I don’t do it. I mean I take some pictures but I don’t know how to send it, so I just look at it myself.
Ume Kayo: Oh, ok. I don’t know if it’s a digital camera or what, but I saw some pictures of Tamori’s (Japanese comedian) left over food at the end of the year.
Interviewer: So, I have a digital camera. I know I should take a photo of the food when he brings it out, while it’s nice looking, but I always forget and remember after I eat. Then I can only take photos of the messy left over food. I really feel ashamed.
Ume Kayo: But you are always like that, right? Hahaha!
Interviewer: I’m not doing it on purpose. So I went to his house with my friend Yoko Nogiwa (Japanese actress). I took her plate and said: “Give it to me and hold on a second” and took some photos because she hadn’t touched it yet.
Ume Kayo: “Give it to me”? Hahaha!
Interviewer: I was lucky that time. Everyone asks me why I forget to taka a photo. Really I don’t know what to say. I think: “Oh this looks delicious” first, I guess.
09:54
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: But I think it’s ok. Tamori always asks me: “Why do you take photos of half eaten food all the time?”
Ume Kayo: Yes, I saw those photos before.
Interviewer: Then did you meet him?
Ume Kayo: No, not yet.
Interviewer: So is that information from TV?
Ume Kayo: Yes, I saw it on TV. I look forward to watching that TV show at the end of every year.
Interviewer: Yea, yea. I’m hoping to go to visit him this year too. He is a great cook.
Ume Kayo: Then, please take a photo this year for sure!
Interviewer: Yes.
Ume Kayo: A nice one.
Interviewer: I hope so. Even when I tell myself to do it, I don’t know why I forget it.
Ume Kayo: Oh.
Interviewer: Why? I am an adult.
Ume Kayo: Haha, an adult!
Interviewer: Yes, I’m an adult and I put my camera on the table. But I start to eat as soon as I see the food, I don’t understand myself.
Ume Kayo: Every time, right?
Interviewer: Yes, it’s been a long time. I think it’s been for 10 years.
Ume Kayo: 10 years? Really? It’s kind of awesome that you keep forgetting for 10 years.
Interviewer: Right?
10:47
Interviewer: She has a photo exhibition… And you finished at Omotesando, right?
Ume Kayo: That’s right.
Interviewer: And 22,000 people came in 16 days?
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: It seems like people love to see photos.
Ume Kayo: I guess so.
Interviewer: I saw lots of silly smiles.
Interviewer: Oh, really? But it’s great that photos can make people smile.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
11:09
Interviewer: So you are going to do it in Osaka next, right?
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: “Commemoration Photo Exhibition” at HEP HALL Osaka.
Ume Kayo: Yes, it's at HEP HALL.
Interviewer: Hahaha! This picture got on the cover.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: That’s funny. And I heard you are showing your newest photos.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: I’ve been thinking about this. You have to have a sense of humor to do this.
Ume Kayo: You think so?
Interviewer: I think so. I just feel bad when I see someone who has taken a normal photo of someone who fell on the ground.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: Right?
Ume Kayo: So that’s the difficult line.
Interviewer: It’s a difficult line. Either people think it’s funny or sad.
Ume Kayo: Not to hurt anybody, right?
Interviewer: Yes.
Ume Kayo: That’s the most important part.
Interviewer: Yes, it’s funny to see kids or someone fall but it’s cruel too.
Ume Kayo: I agree.
Interviewer: So keep it humorous and laughable… And it’s funnier after I hear the stories from you.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
12:10
Interviewer: That grandmother’s “Watermelon!! You forgot” photo.
Ume Kayo: Oh that incident?
Interviewer: Everyone should hear the story of it.
Ume Kayo: Yes, haha! Watermelon… Right.
Interviewer: It looks like she saw a thief.
Ume Kayo: Yes.
Interviewer: And I hope your grandfather stays healthy and is able to keep being your model.
Ume Kayo:Yes.
Interviewer: I am looking forward to seeing your photos. So when you have a new photo book please send it to me.
Ume Kayo: Yes, of course.
Interviewer: Thank you for coming here today.
Ume Kayo: Thank you very much.
Interviewer: But, haha! I heard your name before, but you are really funny.
Ume Kayo: Thank you.
Interviewer: Thank you so much for today and see you soon!
Found another gem on the internet! This time an interview of Ume Kayo on television explaining some of her photographs. I made another English transcript of this video since it is very rare to find subtitles and I wanted Ume Kayo's work introduced to the West. Again, she amazes me with her skill on capturing funny moments of things that not a lot of people pay attention to. I've been doing research on her work so if you are curious, right below are other translated interviews and a book review that I did awhile back. Kindly please wait as I edit down Part 2 of the video.
Here are links to past reviews and translations of her interviews:
Book Review: Ume Kayo - Ume-me
Video: Ume Kayo
The Return of the Near-Future Photography Skill Talk
English Transcript:
English, Interview, Japan, Television, Transcript, Translation, Ume Kayo, Video in Video I finally found this gem on the internet and I highly suggest giving this video a good listen. I sometimes listen to this video whenever I get ready to go outside and photograph life in the streets of my downtown area. Henri Cartier-Bresson has always been a source of inspiration for me whenever I get burned out. Yes, I do get burned out from photography from time to time but when I listen to my heroes like Henri Cartier-Bresson, I get reinvigorated with the idea to move on and to get out of my own head space. I can just look at his photographs in his books like À Propos de Paris over and over and have a sense that the good is out there for us to see, you just have to have you chin up to see it. I hope you enjoyed this video as much as I have.
I also made a transcript so that other people can get it translated through Google Translate if you happed to be in another country.
Transcript:
The Decisive Moment
Photographs and Words by Henri Cartier-Bresson
I've been taking pictures when I was very young, I think. I don't remember what age. I started by painting and drawing, and for me photography was a means of drawing and that's all.
Immediate sketch done with intuition and you can't correct it. If you have to correct it, it's your next picture. But life is very fluid, well um…Sometimes the pictures disappeared and there's nothing you can do. You can't tell the person, “Oh, please smile again, do that gesture again!” Life is once, forever.
I'm not interested in any documenting. Documenting is extremely dull, and journalism. I’m a very bad reporter and photojournalist. Capa told me, when I had an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1946, he said, “No, you be very careful. You mustn’t have a label of a Surrealist photographer.”
All my training was Surrealism. I still feel very close to be a Surrealist. But he said, “If you are labeled as a Surrealist photographer, you won't go any further. You won't have an assignment and you're going to be like a hot houseplant. Just forget it. Do whatever you like, but the label should be photojournalist.” And Capa was extremely sound.
So I never mentioned Surrealism. It's my private affair. And what I want, what I'm looking for, it's my business. And I'm not a reporter. It's accidentally. It's on the side.
If I go to a place, it's to try and have a picture which concretizes a situation which at one glance has everything and which has the strong relations of shapes, which for me is essential. For me it's a visual pleasure. It's the rhythm the way...The head falls here. This goes back. There's a rhyme between different elements. There's a square here, rectangle, another rectangle. So it's all these problems which I'm preoccupied with. But the greatest joy for me is geometry. That means the structure. You can go shooting for shapes or patterns and all these but it's a sensuous pleasure, an intellectual pleasure at the same time to have everything at the right place. It's a recognition of an order, which is in front of you.
Like in this picture, the portrait of a grandmother and a little girl. It's all these relations of curves, of design, of lines. The difference between a good picture and a mediocre picture is a question of millimeters – small, small difference but it's essential.
And if I take the picture from there it's another arrangement of that. And it's very small moves I'm doing. I'm not jumping up and down. It's a relation between your nose, your eyes, the window behind, and that's my pleasure to establish, these relations. And sometimes there's no picture. Alright there's no picture.
Photojournalism, photojournalism. It's worth noting. Well, some journalists are wonderful writers and others are just putting facts one after the other, and facts are not interesting. Facts are not interesting. It's a point of view on facts which is important. And in photography it doesn’t need evocation. If you're evoking, it causes the evokee.
I took some photographs; it's like a Chekhov story or a Mufasa story. It's a quick thing and there's a whole world in it. Photographs I care for are photographs that you can look for more than two minutes. But it's extremely long. Photographs you can look at over and over again, not many. Not many.
Portraits
The most difficult thing for me is that of a portrait. It's very difficult. It's a question mark you put on somebody, trying to see who is it, what does it amount to, what’s the significance of that face. And the difference between a portrait and a snapshot is that a portrait has a…the person agreed to be photographed. It's not at all like somebody you're seeing, you catch in the street and up like this.
I like to take people in their, how do you call it, in their environment. The animal in his a habitat. And it's a habitat, yes.
And it's fascinating coming in like this in people’s homes, looking at them. But you have to be like a cat, not this term.
And tiptoe always, and tiptoes. But certainly it's like a biologist and his microscope, when you study everything it doesn’t react the same way as when it's not studied. And you have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt, which is not a very easy thing.
And the attitudes of people are so different in front of a camera. Some are embarrassed, some are ashamed, some hate to be photographed, and others are showing off and... You paint people very quickly. You see people naked through the viewfinder. You see them stripped naked and it's sometimes very embarrassing.
And I remember I had to take for Vogue a very, very old lady, a Bostonian, wonderful old lady. She smiled at me but that a sort of smile, but you can smile back at her. She wanted to check on the picture before publication and I said, “I'm sorry, I've never done that. It's a question of trust.” And she agreed. She said, “Oh, my wrinkles.” And I told her, “That's the interesting thing, your wrinkles, after all. It depends how they fall, which is true. It's life. It's a mark of life. It depends how people have been living, and all this is written on their face. At this certain age you got the face you deserve, I think.”
Usually when taking a portrait I feel like putting a few questions just to get the reaction of a person, talking and sitting as possible. But still you must establish a contact of some sort. Whereas with Ezra Pound, I stood in front of him for maybe an hour and a half in utter silence. We're looking at each other in the eyes and I took maybe altogether, one good photograph, four others possible, and two which were not interesting. It was about six pictures taken in an hour and a half. And no embarrassment whatsoever.
Sometimes people ask, “How many pictures do you take? Do you take many pictures a day? How was it…”
Well, there’s no rule. Sometimes like in this picture in Greece, well I saw the frame of the whole thing and I waited for somebody to pass. And I snapped two pictures. One was of an Orthodox priest with a cylinder hat, and a little girl. The little girl was exactly in relation with the other shapes whereas him it was something clumsy. It was another conception. And sometimes there was not a second choice because the people were gone.
That's why there's a lot of great anxiety, this profession, because you're always waiting, “What is going to happen, what, what, what, what…” It's what? Yes, uh, um. Like this… It's all the time. You're shooting, you say, “Yes, yes, maybe yes.” But you should'nt over to shoot.
It's like overeating or overdrinking. You have to eat, you have to drink, but over is too much because by the time you press your arm or shutter once more and maybe the picture was in between. It's a fraction of a second. It's an instinct.
You got to be quick, quick, quick, like an animal and a prey, broom! Like this, you grasp it and people don't notice what you’ve taken it.
But it's a question of awareness. Everything in your body is there. Wurrrhh! That's beautiful. For me it's a physical pleasure, photography. It doesn't take much brains. It doesn't take any brains. It takes sensitivity, a finger and two legs. But it's beautiful when you feel that your body is working with all…like it's full of air and you're in contact with nature and so on. It's beautiful. Boom… Got it! Wurrrhh! You see?
I'm extremely impulsive, terribly. It's really a pain in the neck for my friends and family. I'm a bunch of nose. But I take advantage of it in photography. I never think. I act, quick, like this and ah…
You have to forget yourself. You have to be yourself and you have to forget yourself so that the image comes much stronger, what you want and what you see. If you get involved completely in what you're doing, and not thinking. Ideas are very dangerous. You must think all the time but when you're photographing you're not trying to push a point to explain something or prove something. You don't prove anything. It comes by itself.
The first impression is essential. The first glance, the shock or surprise, it jumps at you. You nourish it by your own life, whether your taste or the intellectual luggage that you carry, your experiences, your love, your hate. It's really fully enriching.
And poetry is the essence of everything. There are two elements which are suddenly in conflict, like a spark between two elements. But it's given very seldom and you can't look for it. It's like if you look for inspiration, you don't think. It comes very enriching yourself, and living. You say, “I’ll wait for the top pictures, the great pictures.” Well, it's seldom you make a great picture. You have to milk the cow quite a lot and get plenty of milk to make a little cheese.
I don't know if it needs to be dramatically new. There's no new ideas in the world. There's only new arrangements of things. Everything is new, every minute is new. But it means reexamining. Life changes every minute. The world is being created every minute and the world is falling to pieces every minute. Death is present everywhere as soon as we're born. And it is a very beautiful thing, the tragic…What is it… The tragic… What is tragic in life, because there's always two poles and one cannot exist without the other one. So these tensions, I'm always ah...moved by.
This picture I like, in a way. I was driving in Greece in the mountains in the north. There was a child on the road. He was keeping goats there and I waved and there was something… Suddenly he started walking on his hands. There was such an exaltation, such a joy in that barren country, in that dusty road.
I like English people very much, and it's the most exotic country for a Frenchman. It's a biggest difference just to go to England and see English people, even now.
How can I say politely…When I'm in England I feel like I'm sitting in a very comfortable armchair and I'm looking at the stage and all these actors. I can applaud them but they got a set of rules, wonderful but I'm not supposed to step in and jump on the stage and play with them, you see? If you look at the play, you shouldn't applaud too loud and I enjoyed it tremendously.
I think everything is interesting if you're scratched... but at the same time you can't just can't photograph everything you see. There's some places where the pulse beats more. But not as a…after the war, I don't know but I had a feeling that going to colonial countries was important, what changes are going to take place there. That's why I spent three years in the Far East.
I was in India just at the death of Gandhi after the partition between India and Pakistan. And it's to be present when there's a change of situation, when there's the most tension.
And I've been living in India for about a year, even more, and the problem of demography, immensity of space, of people, preoccupied me very much. I like to live in the place. I don't like to live for short. Over there is said something what is made with time, time where expected or something like this.
I spent in China the last six months of the Kuomintang regime. I watched its falling to pieces. And I was there when the Communists arrived. I stayed there another six months. The Chinese have always been between a chaotic and stern and puritanical regime. For centuries it has been from one to the other. I was very lucky to be just at that change. The tradition and what remains of a tradition and at the same time what is a revolutionary attitude and another conception of man.
To interest people in faraway places, to shock them, to delight them, is not too difficult. But the most difficult thing is in your own country. You know too much it's…When it's on your own block, it's such a routine. It's quite difficult to get out, when I'm going to a butcher or... Well, places where I'm all the time, I know too much and not enough. And to be lucid about it is the most difficult.
But your mind must be open. Open. Aware. Aware like this, like having a radar, search light or like this. And that's why anybody has done 10 good photographs in his life. What is interesting is the consistency, to keep on, on, on, on. It's always reexamining things, trying to be more lucid and free and go deeper and deeper. I don't know, because it comes as a weapon. You can't prove anything but at the same time, it is a weapon. It's such a propaganda means, photography. That’s it all. But it's a way of shouting the way you feel.
I love life, I love human beings. I hate people also. You see, the camera, it can be a machine gun. It can be a psychoanalytical couch. It can be a warm kiss. It can be a sketchbook, the camera. And even for me. That's strictly my way of feeling. I enjoy shooting a picture, being present. It's a way of saying, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” It's like the last three words of Ulysses of Joyce, which is one of the tremendous works which have ever been written, it's “Yes, yes, yes!” And it started like that. It's “Yes, yes, yes!”
And there's no maybe. All the maybes should go to trash, because it's the instance, it's the present, it's the moment, it’s there. And it's a respect of it, an enjoyment. It's the enjoyment of just saying, “Yes!” Even if it's something you hate, “Yes!” It's an affirmation. “Yes!”
I've been following Peter Turnley's work for about two years now. His work and his life stories has inspired me immensely like his story about McClellan Street with his brother David and his big move to Paris. I was really happy to have met Mr. Turnley last spring during the his evening with the Austin Center of Photography. I still can remember the kind gesture he showed that day that I will never forget. Here is a 5 part interview of Peter Turnley done by Cobris. Hope you enjoy watching it as much as I have = ) I also look forward to attending one of his workshops when I get the chance to.
I finally present you the last part of the Near-Future Photography Skill Talk. If you haven't watched the first two videos, Here are the links of the video and english translation of the group interview.
The Return of the Near-Future Photography Skill Talk Part One
The Return of the Near-Future Photography Skill Talk Part Two
In this final group interview, Mr. Kishin Shinoyama gives the audience a chance ask questions to Ume Kayo, Yurie Nagashima, and Rinko Kawauchi. Questions ranging on what camera they use, how ideas come into fruition, dealing with deadlines, and why they do what they do. I hope you enjoy this insightful interview as I have.
Note: If you find anymore videos on Rinko Kawauchi, Ume Kayo, and Yurie Nagashima that you want translated kindly please get it to my attention by contacting me so that I can get the article or video translated into english.
Near Future Photo Technique Talk Show
Part 3 Q&A
Sponsored by Magazine Brutus
December 10th 2010 Tokyo Shinagawa Canon S Tower Hall S
Rinko Kawauchi FOIL Nao Amino
Yurie Nagashima Akaakasha Nozomi Himeno
Ume Kayo Little More Yoko Ohmine
Hosted By Kishin Shinoyama
Kishin Shinoyama: OK, so we are slowly starting to run out of time here, so....to any one of these ladies sitting here today... if you have any questions which you would like to ask them, please go ahead and raise your hands, I think they would really appreciate it.
Question 1
When putting together a photo book, is there a certain guideline of when you decide to publish it?
Rinko Kawauchi: OK, so...maybe I have mislead you with what I said at the start...it's not that everytime I take a photo, I am always thinking of taking all of them and putting them togeter in a book....but there is a point where the photos I have taken starts to stack up, and then this vague image or ideas starts to take shape in my head slowly. So I take some of those photo prints and put them into files and look at them...that's when it hits me sometimes, like hey, I think this is going somewhere...So I take the photos, keep putting them into files, add more, and then eventually the files get thicker. That's when I feel like it is enough to show other people. It does hit me. But of course, it depends on each book, it is different each time. For example for my "Utatane" book, it was my first work...I tried including everything in it, for the "Hanabi" book, well the title is hanabi( fireworks) so it took about 3 years to gather enough photos, for the family photo book, again there were a lot of photos I wanted to include...so each book has a different timing when I feel like the time is right...like the time is ripe, should I say. I think it's like wine. You take a sip and decide, is it too early, should I let is sit for a bit more, something like that. I am the only one who can tell myself when the "wine" is ready. Does that answer your question?
Audience: Yes, thank you.
Kishin Shinoyama: You know, I would like to ask Ms.Nagashima...actually, everyone here...so let's say that you all need to decide, like OK! This is ready to publish! Or nah, we need to spend more time on it...you know, things like that....when do you actually make that decision? Do you just wait for the other person to say something?
Nozomi Himeno: Actually, I would like to hear that too. 'Cause for the photographers, this so-called timing is something only they can tell, not us. I do wonder, when do you feel like it is the time to move on and say to yourself, so like for your other book, when did you think it was time for me to contact Ms.Himura?
Yurie Nagashima: Yeah it's true, when the number of photos start to pile up, I start thinking....( she is not so clear around this part)
Nozomi Himeno: OK, so when do you decide it's a good timing?
Yurie Nagashima: Actually you know what...I have no idea! (chuckles)
Nozomi Himeno: But I'm sure there is a point where you tell yourself, OK, this is it, right? So it's something like OK, I have this much number of photos..and you have gathered enough and thought about it enough where you can take those photos and clearly explain your ideas to another person...that should be a good timing. It's like you feel satisfied...you feel like OK, I think I have worked on this enough, I think I can go ahead and explain my ideas to people with confidence. I'm sure you have something where you feel like that.
Yurie Nagashima: Well, I guess it does depend on what kind of photos I am taking at that time...
Nozomi Himeno: Yeah, that's true.
Kishin Shinoyama: What about you, Ume Kayo?
Ume Kayo: Awe geez, you're asking me?
Kishin Shinoyama: You know, like your book "Danshi," how was that one?
Ume Kayo: Well for "Danshi, " I took the photos in Osaka. Well, that one was actually easy, I went to Oasaka to take the photo, so once I left Osaka, it was pretty much done so that was when I thought it was ready, as for "Jichan,"....well, he was getting pretty old...you know, pretty much was ready to die any minute, so that was done in a bit of a rush..the rest was...well, I guess I'm the same....I just feel it when it's ready.
Yurie Nagashima: You sometimes have that gut feeling, right?
Ume Kayo: Well, for me it's more like....oh hey, it's been about a year since I got that book out...OK, so one year...maybe it's about time I work on something again.
Yurie Nagashima: Yeah, I see what your saying, but after all it does take some power and effor to get something out there, right? Isn't there some motivation...something that drives you?
Ume Kayo: Motivation? Motivation .....Motivation??
Yurie Nagashima: Wow, you don't have to repeat it that many times! (chuckles)
Ume Kayo: Well..... I get so many feelings...Um, well, if I say something like this, people might think that I'm joking or fooling around...but I am serious...When I come up with a book, I want Mr.Ohno from Arashi (a popular boy's singing group in Japan) to see it...I have that feeling in my mind a lot...
Yurie Nagashima: So you're saying you have that feeling, hoping that someone you like...someone you care for would look at the book someday?
Ume Kayo: Of course,it's not just that, but I think it's more like when I take a good photo, I just want to show it around to people...you know, something like this one (points at the screen)...I just want to show it off, because I'm proud of it..
Yurie Nagashima: OK, then what about the timing, you know, of when to publish a new book...
Ume Kayo: Hmm...well, I don't think I have any...oh wait...Ms.Ohmine...yeah, it's her! She usually says hey, it's about time a new book came out! Oh yes yes, it's her, now I remember. Each time, she says it. ALL the time.
Yurie Nagashima: But it's important, right, to have someone like that...someone who encourages you every now and then...someone who gives you a good amount of pressure...so in that sense, deadlines are actually good.
Ume Kayo: I think so, I'd be finished without a deadline!
*******************************************************
Question 2
Ms.Kawauchi is known for keeping an "idea notebook," but is there anything she is being careful about?
Rinko Kawauchi: Oh yes, about my "idea notebook," well, it all started when I was a student. When we were working on our graduation project, our teacher encouraged us to take notes and keep it with us...and he pointed out that everything that came to our minds, anything that got our attention, we should write it down. That really worked for me. Once I wrote things down, it gave me the chance to really organize my thoughts, keep track of what I was thinking at the time, and it really helped me create ideas later on. So it became a habit for me. Recently, I don't write down just ideas, I write down pretty much everything...like a good movie I saw, or a good quote I heard, everything. But it really is a good chance to organize your thoughts, so for younger people who are having problems with creating things, it's something I personally recommend. ...What do you think?
Kishin Shinoyama: You know, it's mentioned here in this book too, but I usually ask people what is the origin of their thoughts and ideas. Most cases, people can't really answer that question...it's more like they come up with the answer later on. Like for example, especially when you go to a foreign country...you need to be able to explain your work. Just saying oh, I took this picture because I thought it was nice, that's not enough. So it is a good idea to be able to explain your work, even though it might be something you came up with afterwards. But to be really honest, I think it's just that these people here really, and simply LOVE to take photos. It's that simple. They just want to take photos because they enjoy it so much. So at first, it's not that they want to do something with it, but as they continue to take photos, they soon realize and start to see ideas. Then, you take those ideas, pile them up, and then make it into a book. So, you see these ladies sitting here... they can say all they want, they can come up with concepts and ideas and stories behind the photo, all that good stuff and make it sound all fancy...they usually come up with the so-called concepts AFTER they finish taking the photo. That's how it is in most cases. So, when you hear photographers being all logical and telling nice stories...you shouldn't really trust them.
<audience laughs>
Kishin Shinoyama: But that's the bottom line, what really matters is that they just simply love taking photos. They love photos, they want to take photos, that's what they want to do, and that's OK...but here's the problem, as professional just simply saying "Because I love it so much" doesn't sound cool. So that's why they have to come up with fancy stories and stuff....but the root of all that comes from a very pure thought, which is simply the love towards photography. There's nothing wrong with that, I think.
We are very lucky, these ladies are very lucky and happy because they are doing what they love so much. So I would like to ask, so let's say these younger people...the people in the audience came up to you one day, and they wanted to show their photos to you...what kind of work would you like to see? Anyone is OK, anyone who can answer that...Ms.Himeno, what about you?
Nozomi Himeno: Well, personally I tend to pay attention to work that has a strong message...where somebody took the photo because they felt like they had to.
Kishin Shinoyama: What about you. Ms.Amino?
Nao Amino: Let's see...I think that concepts and ideas are very important as well, but sometimes there are photos that has a certain power...the moment you see it, you get pulled right in...a work that can only be done by that particular person...I would like to see something like that.
Kishin Shinoyama: And you, Ms.Ohmine?
Yoko Ohmine: I think I have the same opinion...just like Mr.Shinoyama was saying earlier, that feeling of loving photography, loving taking pictures...that pure and strong feeling does show clearly. You can feel it. So for me, the photo having that certain power, that is the most important...having that said, the photos with the strong will...in this case, something like strong desires and ambitions...those are the winners, I think.
Kishin Shinoyama: So, these ladies have answered quite honestly, I think...so for me, I think the bottom line is yourself. It's yourself. If it is something YOU wanted to show, something that YOU want believe in, you take that photo, march up to these people and show them what you've got...they will see it. They will feel it for sure.
I think Ms.Ohmine mentioned something interesting....she said ambition.
I think something like that is interesting...and important too. You are thinking in your mind, hey, this is going to be good...this will get me a lot of money...it will get me an award...something really dark like that...it can be really fun, you know..that kind of a feeling taking shape.
**********************************************************
Question 3
What is it about photography that you like so much?
Also, one of Ms.Kawauchi's photo with the light shining on the students going up the stairs, that piece almost looks heavenly in a way. Can you tell us about the situation when you took that photo?
Rinko Kawauchi: Well, as for that photo... that was just a lucky shot...It was really spontaneous, I liked that moment and I had to take it. I have photos where it was either taken by coincidence, or it was something where I waited for hours and hours to get the perfect shot, both ways...but that photo, it was simply a coincidence, more like a miracle I would say, with that light shining on the stairs in a straight line...and it just happened to be during lunch break when the students were walking up and down, going back to their classrooms..I just happen to be there...but it was a great shot. Such a great shot, it made me so happy. When it comes to photos where it made me that happy, I think I don't have that many. I've been taking photos for more than 15 years...but that one photo, I clearly remember the feeling. I felt so happy, so peaceful...well, maybe happy is not the right word, how can I explain it... I heard that when an athlete runs, and he or she is getting very close to the goal line...and right before they reach the goal, they feel like their body floats in the air for a second...I think my feeling was very similar to that one. Like getting high.
Yurie Nagashima: Well, for me...it's not really about whether I have a camera or not...I look at something first...and by looking at many things, I judge what I see, I judge the world I see. I meet many people through my own feelings...So when I decide to take photos, I didn't feel strange or uncomfortable. I think that's one thing.
Another thing is that when I started taking photos,I realized that my face gets covered. I was taking a lot of people's photos at one point, but I have problems with meeting people..I'm not good at it. But when you use a camera, your face gets covered, and the other person doesn't see you. But through the lens, you can see them. That feeling is something I felt very comfortable about. I use my left eye when I take pictures, so the camera completely blocks my face. So me being comfortable, that was an important thing for me.
Of course I do enjoy taking pictures...and the reason why I take photos is that I take photos of the things and people I care about. If it's a person, that person is important to me, I love them and I want to get closer to them. It's not that I want to capture that moment in a film, it's not like that for me. It's more like me remembering that moment in a different way. At first, I was trying to capture that certain moment, but then I had experiences when I saw the photo later, it wasn't as good as it appeared in my memory, and I thought that there is no way a camera can overpower the actual memory in your mind...but on the other hand I had cases where I thought it didn't appear that good when I saw it with my own eyes,but when I saw the photo of it, it looked great. So through that kind of experience, I came up with the idea of "remembering that moment in a different way." And of course,I guess the bottom line is, I enjoy it every much.
Ume Kayo: OK, so what was the question again? Why I like it? Oh, why I like photography? Wow, why....well, you can take pictures, that's why. To be honest, that's it. The beauty of it is that you can "take pictures," right? You know, you see something nice, or cool, you pull out your camera...and you are able to take a photo. That's it. Then, you get to show that photo to other people. That makes me happy. That's what has kept me going until this day.
.....Awe dang it, I knew it!! I knew this was bad, me being the last one to answer the question!!!!
Rinko Kawauchi (I think): No, don't worry, that's great. I liked it.
Ume Kayo: Are you sure? Really, that was OK?
Rinko Kawauchi: You did fine. You did a good job with wrapping it up.
Ume Kayo: Great...so does that answer your question?
****************************************************
Question 4
Do you use the digital camera, or the analog camera?
Rinko Kawauchi: I originally started off using the analog camera, but recently I have tried the digital one too. It's fun!
Yurie Nagashima: I usually always used the analog type...but again...recently I bought a digital camera...and I took pictures of my kids at the sports festival at school...well, it's a lot of work to print them all out...but it's fun.
Rinko Kawauchi: Didn't you have one of your photos on a magazine or something before, the one with your kids?
Yurie Nagashima: A magazine...oh that was a long time ago. I didn't use a good digital camera then, it was really unstable, very small too. The one I got recently is something better.
Rinko Kawauchi: Which one?
Yurie Nagashima: Um, a Canon.
Ume Kayo: For me, it's film all the way.
Yurie Nagashima: No plans of changing?
Ume Kayo: Well, I do get digital cameras from people sometimes...but it's just that I rather get a Canon one...oh no, that's not what I meant...don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that I want people to give me a Canon digital....no no...um well, it WILL be great if someone did give one to me...but that's not what I was trying to say!
Yurie Nagashima: So you're saying that if someone gave it to you, you'll use it?
Ume Kayo: Yeah, I'll use it and tell people hey, I took this photo using Canon.
Yurie Nagashima: So it's not like that you have a particular reason of why you keep using the analog camera?
Ume Kayo: Nah, it's just that this is the only one I've been using.
Yurie Nagashima: It sound like if you ever get the chance, you won't have any problems switching over to digital then.
Ume kayo: I guess that can happen, yes.
Yurie Nagashima: Judging from your work, I think digital would be better for you.
Ume Kayo: Well, the problem for me is, that I'm pretty bad with computers.
Yurie Nagashima: Ah, I see. But if that's the problem you're having, can't you just someone else to do it for you,just the computer part?
Ume Kayo: No, I don't think I can! It will create strange tension.
Yurie Nagashima: Oh...OK, I got it.
Kishin Shinoyama: In my case, 99% of the time, it's digital.
Rinko Kawauchi: Where is the remaining 1% then?
Kishin Shinoyama: Right here, the Brutus "Relationship" section. For this one, we all used film. We wanted to take photos using polaroid camera, but it was pretty rare. We tried collecting them but we didn't get that many. So the Polaroid camera is slowly disappearing, and so is the film for it. That's what is happening. Nowadays, the whole process is all digitalized, so...in a way, people who are using film is very retro...I think. But that's just the way it is now, all digital. I have heard people using film cameras making fun of digital cameras, but the world is changing, it's different. There are so many fun things you can do because it's digital. Plus, it's so fast. You take the photo. You can go back and check what you've taken right away. You can pull out the data and hand it to other people and show it right away. The end. So quick. So when people say hey, I want to buy this data, I give them a 20% discount! That's how photos are made nowdays, it's going so quickly, that's the world we are living in right now. The way we express things will change.
Rinko Kawauchi( I think) : That is so true...
Kishin Shinoyama: But you know,how you express things...well, like for example, some people say that paper books will soon disappear and will be taken over by digital books which may be true. But, as for this thing called "photo collection book," this only exists as an object. That will not change. But the way we take pictures will change. I mean, think about it, almost everyone in this room has a camera, right? Your cell phone comes with a camera, doesn't it? We can all take photos anytime. It will keep changing. The world of photography will keep changing...AND, if you read this book...you will get to understand our world even more!
Part 3 End
Special thanks to
Brutus Editorial Department
FOIL
Akaakasha
Little More
pdash
Canon Marketing Japan