New Inspirations

I’ve struggled a bit to get back into the groove with writing, but photography has come easily. My camera is always either in my hand or in my bag, and I’ve rarely missed a shot. The first couple of days here, I was making eight or ten images I was happy with. The number hasn’t really gone down, though I’m turning around and immediately posting them less. I’ve been sharing most of my work to Retro and Instagram stories, which is fun, but feels very transient—this is a good and bad thing! I’ve started to hold back some images I feel are especially strong. I’m not entirely sure what I want to do with these, but I felt they at least deserved their own time in the sun.

On Instagram, I saw a post about a photo exhibition run by the Void Tokyo collective, showcasing images from both Japanese and Korean photographers in concert. The Void Tokyo collective was founded by photographer Tatsuo Suzuki, whose work I became acquainted with shortly before writing about him for Input Magazine. Now, here was a chance to see his photos, alongside the work of other photographers who I admired or had yet to know.

We headed out to Ginza among the rain, and found the gallery almost immediately. The gallery was split into three rooms, with each image lit precisely around the edges of the frame. It was a really strong exhibition, with nearly every image stopping me in my tracks. I would’ve been very happy to have made any of them.

We made our way through the gallery, when I noticed Tatsuo Suzuki, and fellow collective members Johan Brooks and Kohei Kudo sitting around a table. So exciting to be able to have a conversation with some photographers I admire, in a local gallery, in Japanese. Just an experience I struggled to have back in Chicago.

So far, it’s been a joy to move my photography back from “work” into the realm of “play.” My street photography has always been a place just for me, with no financial implications, but it’s great to move my entire practice back into that direction. I make the photographs I want to make, which has made me feel even more free in my practice than I expected.

I also came away from the exhibit just feeling very inspired. The work was good. I’d started to feel like I was in a rut with my photography, and sometimes you need to see something striking to knock you out of it. This was exactly that. Suzuki-san talked to me about the sequencing of the images, something I’ve only considered in passing. Most of my images stand alone, but there’s something powerful about the connection created by juxtaposing them, in a book, or on a gallery wall. I’ve only started to play with that more, making gallery posts on Instagram, but it definitely changes the way I view or think about an image; can often lead to a feeling of weight.

I purchased the latest zine from the Void Tokyo collective, which contains the works from the show and some extras. Each photographer got a small section with a few images, and a statement that they were clearly free to make as they pleased. The one that’s ringing most in my head is from Joel Pulliam, whose work I’m quite fond of, and says of his process, simply:

When I take a photograph, I feel as if I am saying good-bye.

YES! I thought. I’m still turning that idea over.

For my part, I feel as if I’m approaching photography new once again. I’m excited to take my camera out, unsure of what might cross my frame, or what beautiful light I might see. It was a pleasure to be able to take in these photographs, and made me want to push my work even further.