moom bookshop

Probably since I have shown only black and white photographs for several years, people often ask me, "Don't you take color photographs anymore?" Actually, I have always taken color photographs while doing my monochrome works. Especially during the 1990s, I did more works in color than in black and white. I have always insisted it makes no big difference whether my work is in color or in black and white. However, occasionally, certain subjects definitely make me feel like photographing it in color. Needless to say, the color of such subjects is the lure. While black and white images seem to be able to connote the photographer's feelings deeply within, color photographs tend to reveal the photographer's tastes and preferences, even if not intended. Maybe this is why I cannot completely forget about taking color photographs even as I am doing black and white works.

This book includes photographs I took from 2012 through early 2016. Since I had been focusing on showing monochrome photographs from 2012 through 2015, my color photographs were just piling up after being developed. Then, looking at them, I was tempted to create a book with them. When I had an exhibition of my black and white works, I also showed 3.5'' x 5'' prints of my color photographs in a showcase as "what I was now selecting". Mr. Hoki saw them and offered to publish them.

I have always told people that photographing when I want and what I like is my style. This book is the ultimate manifestation of it. As I walk in the street, my eye is caught by signs, posters, rusty old shops and their mannequins and dolls, all immobile alongside big buildings, soon concealed or buried in the depth of memories of passers by. These objects never cease to intrigue me. My everyday life may be barely outlined by these objects. Sein may refer to the outline of my being.