Public space, public activity - Japan

This project is central to the sort of travel photography that I aspire to. When traveling on holiday, I want to capture impressions of the lives of the people and the place of people in the landscape (or cityscape). I am less interested in photos of the famous sites as a record of having seen them. This course is pushing me to look harder to find subjects and to be more adventurous in getting a viewpoint.

I present in this blog some of the photos of public spaces and public activity from my trip to Japan. The course notes suggest choosing a single location such as a park for this project. However, when traveling with others, it is not readily possible to take time in one particular location. I feel that choosing a larger area can still fit within the aims of this particular project.

I have selected just a few photos of public spaces and public activities from the trip.

Photography

This project is an opportunity to practice and experiment with the techniques covered in earlier sections such as gesture and pose, lighting, and capturing a suitable moment.

Workers - delivery man and back street manga cinema

Nikon 18-200 at 20mm: Iso 125 f3.5 for 1/500th

I stood in this position to take a photograph of the brightly coloured posters and frontage of the small cinema- the first photograph of the holiday. This uniformed worker from a local office fortuitously walked along the street to create a scene that I feel is distinctive to Japan.

Workers - fishmonger at Tokyo fish market

Nikon 18-200mm at 40mm: Iso 500 f5 for 1/40th seconds

This man was concentrating on cutting a thin slice from the large piece of fish. I had some time to take a sequence of photos. I chose this one because the horizontal framing draws the viewers attention to the huge knife. This was the moment where he lifted his head a little out of an area of shadow.

Shoppers - window shopping

Nikon 28mm: Iso 800 f6.3 for 1/50th seconds

I wanted to have a group of shoppers in the foreground of this view of a covered street in Kyoto. Some were obscured by other passers by, others were walking along with their heads down. This group of girls however were just what I had in mind. Whilst the camera was not pointed directly at them, they clearly guessed that they could be in the frame. I feel that their faces reflect the friendliness that we encountered all over Japan.

Shoppers - buying sweetmeats in food market Kyoto

Nikon 28mm: Iso 400 f6.3 for 1/80th seconds

I like to visit markets in the different countries that we visit, but it is often difficult to take a photograph where both the traders and the customers are in suitable positions and light. This group of women are listening attentively to the shopkeeper and my proximity fortunately did not disturb them. I should maybe consider cropping more closely to the area around the shopkeepers face, removing a strip from the bottom and left hand edges of the frame.

Leisure time - sightseeing

Nikon 28mm: Iso 200 f8 for 1/400th seconds

I was sitting on a wall in the car park of a famous Kyoto temple when I saw this tour group being led towards the entrance. Whilst photographs of Japanese tour groups following a guide holding a flag is rather a cliche, the photograph makes the point that almost all the tourists were local Japanese. It also illustrates the smart clothing of both the guide and the group members. I like the posture of the guide with her arms outstretched. When she turned her head, I thought she was going to look directly at me, but in fact her gaze is directed behind me at something else.

Leisure time - picnic on bank of Sumida River

Nikon 28mm: Iso 200 f5 for 1/2000th seconds

We went for a short walk along the embankment of the Sumida River which is the main river in central Tokyo on Sunday after lunch. There were small groups of people who were having picnics along the embankment. The picnic groups were different in several ways to a British style picnic. Many of the groups were old men, rather than families. They were clearly comfortable sitting on the flagstones, rather than sitting on a bench or wall.

In contrast to the banks of the Thames, there are relatively few landmark buildings along this part of the river. Whilst the photograph is primarily a riverscape, the people are necessary in the foreground to draw the viewer into the picture. Moment was not so crucial to this photograph as the scene was relatively static.

Conclusions

It is probably easier to find subjects when in a foreign country as everyday scenes can seem fresh and distinctive. I also felt more anonymous as a foreign tourist than I do when taking street photographs in my home town. It would potentially have been more challenging to do this project at home.