No Two Images Are Alike
I find, as I take a photograph, that I end up going back to the same place again and again. When I attempt what I believe to be a different approach, I am immediately reminded of a similar approach I had already done in the past. Although the same level, the height is that tiny bit higher. It is a never-ending cycle every day.
Photography is an art form unlike that of a drawing or a sculpture that is visualized in someone’s mind; it is simply scanning an object that anyone can see with their own eyes. However, it is a big mistake to say that taking a picture of the exact same thing would produce the same results. As it is an artistic form of interpretation to put it in another way, let’s say if there is a photographer in front of “a single rose”, there would be different interpretations of that rose produced in a number of minutes. What makes a portrait more complicated than a rose is the expression of the person in front of the lens, something I believe is dependent on the conditions and also the photographer who is facing the model.
Finding One’s True Self
My ideal portrait is one of the face that the person has shown throughout their life, but it is not quite as describing it as a simple face but yet a natural face. The closest description to what I am trying to say is the face their family is most familiar with. I really love it when the person I had photographed informs me that their parents loved the photo. I am pleased beyond words when people who know them best compliment my work.
To achieve as natural and simple a photograph as possible, I do not tinker with the color too much, and I choose a straightforward lens. The leaps and bounds made in digital cameras took photography into a new direction, one which led people to experiment to their hearts content, though it is not my style.
Between Photographer and Subject
Why I used the scanner analogy earlier is because we use digital cameras as if they are high-resolution scanners. Change in texture can greatly vary depending on the physical format of film; switching between a 135 and 8×10 even changes how we feel about taking photographs. I believe digital cameras took that feeling away. I often hear about people talking about how shooting with film brings that little extra something to the table. I wish they would not say such an idiotic thing. Even digital has that, and there must have been people in the days of film who did not possess that themselves.
No matter how much the essence of photography progresses and changes, other than the sensibilities of the photographer and the subject, the equipment and technology that stands between doesn’t matter. Rather to have an environment where you would forget there is a lens and camera around in the first place around is superior.
Focus on Those Around Us
Even with all the pleasure I get taking photographs of people, my photography exhibition at ‘Tokyo Design Week 2016’ was based on the theme of ‘first encounters’.My intention was to make clear the record of someone whom you have just met, therefore I made sure the shoot ended after around 30 seconds with 3 shots or so and very few words exchanged.
In the exhibition booth of TDW, I lined up portraits, photographed in front of a black background, that I had taken in Fukushima, Paris, Tokyo. With Tokyo representing home, and Paris being the closest home away from home for me, I wanted a location to represent away. It was here that I had the opportunity to photograph the people who work at SIGMA’s Aizu factory in Fukushima. The black cloth background that I have used for the last few years completely eliminates any sense of location, bringing the focus only on the person in front of the camera. Other than the names of the three cities mentioned, there is no telling as to where they were taken. I want to make it so that, say you assume the person in the picture is French; your guess is that it was taken in Paris.
Achieving Reality
I offered to photograph more than 100 visitors in a special booth I had set up at the exhibition. I had even photographed myself as if I were a visitor after viewing the exhibition. It was a strange situation where I stuck images up of these people, not especially dressed for the occasion and not looking their best, at the same location the day after. The lack of preparation in these portraits is what make them real and beautiful images in my mind.
Being a bit technical, I used a strobe for the Fukushima and TDW images whereas I shot outdoors using natural light in Paris. They felt disjointed when lined up at the exhibition but that is good enough for me. Perhaps you could say natural light is Paris-like, whereas artificial light is very Japan-like. However what they have in common is that only one lens was used: a SIGMA 50mm lens. It is not chosen for its particular focal distance but its guaranteed high quality of imagery. It is my best lens when I want to reduce the worry about options at a location, and it was only this lens that I took along for my Paris shoot.
‘The Art of Photography’
Whenever photographing people, as soon as there is a sign that the photographer is worried than the subject becomes anxious. They start questioning whether the photographer is “any good at all” and become simply bored by the constant changes in the angle and the lens. Timing is the key: the very first moments of a shoot, that point where our consciousness’s become locked in, the atmosphere in the latter stage where tiredness sets in – the personality of the photographer comes out in the choices they make. When shooting a professional model, they constantly bring good results. Of course, this is because they are professionals. However, when shooting someone who is not used to their picture being taken, more often than not, the first few shots are the best. Most of the skill behind photography is not about shooting technique, but from communication. There are people who use buzz words to describe their approach, but they are merely stating the obvious. I think that such phrases are inappropriate, which is why I avoid to use words.
Language vs. Visuals
It may be the cool thing to say that words do not matter as long as the photograph is fine, but the majority of who say such a thing is in fact running away from them. It is not the need to explain the meaning of a painting, but you have a responsibility as to what kind of message led to that painting.
Describing it in the way the mind functions, it is impossible to make visuals without a linguistic interpretation – like how it is impossible to take an image of a sea based only from the literal sense of the word sea. As you face the waves on the coast and release the shutter, words like bright and dark, calm and rough subconsciously race around your mind despite being so close to the sea.
Living and Breathing Photography
Besides portraits, I am moving forward with a number of other projects. My zine ‘GtA’, featuring images of the streets I have encountered on my travels, has reached its third issue. I am accumulating photographs I am thinking of putting into future projects, from ‘symmetry photography’ where I am restructuring everyday photographs into line symmetry, to combining meat and the body in ‘MEAT’. It is trial and error and experimentation on an everyday basis. This is what I love doing. We say photography resembles our eyes, however in my case it is what keeps me alive. That is why to stop taking photographs is the end of me.
Ani Watanabe
Born in Yokohama in 1964. After working for advertising agency LIGHT PUBLICITY, he founded NINJAFILMS. Changed career from an Art Director to a photographer in 2006. Maintains a policy where he only uses equipment which he has personally bought and mastered, before selecting the best for each shoot that faithfully and reliably recreates what he wants. Watanabeani.com