Two years of Tokyo Camera Style.
Many thanks to all 1,600+ followers on Tumblr, and to everyone else (about 1,000 a day) who visits this site from time to time.
It’s exciting to see how Tokyo Camera Style has gotten the response that it has. I think it is totally cool that there are other Camera Style sites out there (Singapore & Manila that I know of for sure). Within 24 hours a this photo of Yamauchi san’s Nikon FM3a got over 100 re-blogs and likes.
This is a great project to keep on going with as I enjoy the continual interaction with people out on the street and creation of new friendships. The concept is simple, but the ability to give back to photography lovers by creating a site about something that other people find as interesting as I do is a blast.
This is what Tokyo Camera Style is for me; It is both an investigation and a celebration into a culture (in Japan and online) that finds enjoyment in the clever tools which people use to interact with the world around them. I can’t see any difference between someone adapting a camera to their own private tastes or doing a similar thing with their car, bicycle, or living room. There is no real economic reason for people to get into analog photography in 2010, but more and more young people are. There is no real reason for anyone to be riding a vintage Triumph Bonneville nowadays than there would be for shooting a Leica M4, but a few people still do despite the fact that they could purchase a prefectly sensible Toyota Prius or Nikon D-300.
There are a lot of us out there who refuse to limit our photographic experience to the sterility of Digital Imaging. There is nothing wrong with the appreciation of the joy of analog photography and it’s beautifully crafted tools.
However you choose to go about what you do, love how you do it. And use what you love.
