August in Japan
And I love fill in flash.
Highway rest stop, Tochigi prefecture. May 2005
There was a bulletin board in my photography room in college with lots of yellowed 3×5 index cards pinned to it. On each card a quote that related to photography had been typed. Funny how these quotes come to mind at seemingly random times. However this time the quote I have in mind is not random. Can’t remember who said it, but it goes like this:
“Photography is like diamond cutting. When you miss, you miss.”
This picture here is an example. I don’t get many chances to ride in a car here in Japan and and even fewer chances to stop at a Japanese highway rest stop. Rest Stops in Nebraska are not places I often go, and never for fun. Sometimes the police go and raid these places for “Fun”. Then the local 10/11 weather man gets caught and is off the air and no one knows why until later when his mug shot is in the paper etc etc etc.
Japanese rest stops are large, play classical music in the facilities, and sell you all kinds of food. They are unique places to photograph and while at one in May of 2005 on th way to Niko I took this photo. Is it a miss? I tend to think so. There are some interesting elements in this picture- the boy with a broken arm, small baby (looking at me) and a smaller dog. There are even some guys walking around in the back with their legs spaced just right to insinuate “walking”. I also like that couple in the mid-background delightfully looking at the scene from the other side. Something about the form though keeps me apart here. Rather than “composing” a photograph, I agree with Stephen Shore that photographs are Solutions to working with the elements of form and space within the frame of the picture. Moving just few inches to the right or left will exclude certain things, and include new ones. Had I tilted the camera down just a bit I could have included the feet of the baby and dog. This is something that I wish I had considered but like trying to glue a diamond back together, it can’t be done. Perhaps though the absence of baby feet is not a detriment to this picture, as it lends a slight element of tension, but that probably translates to confusion. I am often called out on stating the obvious too obviously, but it is not always the Great Photographs that you can learn from.
BONUS: Japanese Highway rest stops and Photography:
At nearly every rest stop I have been to, there is a display of recent car wrecks posted near the restrooms. No blood and guts, just standard “from 20ft away put crashed car in the center of the frame” pictures. These are usually blown up to about 11×14 and laminated , which tend to get wrinkled from the humidity, sun, and rain. At the top of the board there is a reminder to (let’s) drive safely.
