_valerian

–> Been hitting the film development all weekend, down to 40 rolls left in 35mm, and 9 “buroni” (120, as it is called here) film. Some of the 35mm I’ve developed has been from May and June, and being several months removed from the moment of exposure is something great. It gives you a slightly more objective eye when looking at what to print- something Winogrand said was important when trying to decide if the picture was great for what it is vs. thinking it is great because of how you felt when you took it.

–> Last weekend Onishi asked if I wanted to be in a group show next August with him and Kitai Kazuo (!) to which I did say yes. “Good” he said. “Now go shoot Urayasu like you did Nagoya.” (here and here) Urayasu is a city near mine, and is the “theme” of the event. It ought to be a good place for pictures, from what little I’ve seen of it. If you have not yet been to East Tokyo (west Chiba) with a camera in hand, you are missing out. It’s like the blue collar older brother of Setagaya and Kawasaki City, all rough around the edges and with a drinking problem. Signs put up in the 1970s don’t get replaced and a typical empty lot might be litered with some sake bottles and battered faded porn mags in amongst the weeds. There is probably a rusty washer or orange plastic TV slowly disintegrating in a corner by an old tire. But there is a real practical dignity to the place too.
Walker Evans would love east Tokyo.

–> My inner Japanophile has been raging lately and I’ve been reading all media I can get my hands on. TV + Sunday night = Shoten , and what better way to spend such an night than watch a line of old men in colorful kimonos make obscure puns (warning: there is hilarity in that clip.) It’s like a Japanese version of “Who’s line is it anyway” that has been on since TV came in two colors.
Speaking of monochrome moving pictures, at Book Off I picked up this “Visual Directory” photo book of 1950s + 60s Japanese film noir movies that came with a great DVD of original movie trailers, and now I totally want to meet (and photograph!) Mari Annu in 1970:

I guess I’d like to photograph the man with the tambourine too.Next weekend: Going to check out Aya Okabe’s exhibition at Gallery Kaido, and see Onishi sensei’s seminar class show in an old house in Yanaka.