Tag Archives: lo-fi photography

Miss You, Rectangle!!

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My long-time favorite swimming pool photographed using iPhone 3GS in August 24, 2012 at 9:34am, posted on VSCO on August 9, 2020.

This is an outdoor 50m pool I’ve swam in for a very long time, up until 2019.
Strange, that summer I had a feeling, things will be very different the next year on.
Up until that year I pretty-much kept to myself but in 2019, I shared the excitement of mid summer outdoor laps with a small group of enthusiasts. The last day there were 3 of us quietly doing laps until the closing time, but I feel, the sentiment of the summer swim days coming to an end was mutually shared, and I think I experienced the substantial side of humanity I’d call “emotional depth” that made the summer all the more memorable.

This also is the pool I photographed using throw-away waterproof cameras, that turned into a Lo-Fi abstract “Pool Series (1999-2004)”, and did, so far the only show – a group photography show exhibiting the series, in Los Angeles, CA., which was a great experience and received generous, encouraging feedbacks especially from other photographers at the show.
The why’s regarding it being the only show I have quite well-thought-out reasons for that, but I had to do it once so I know it’s not fear dictating my such unconventional “career move”.

I’d like to take time and appreciate Mr.S, now retired, who took care of the place during the time period, for making a gracious exception to the “no camera” rule – allowed only while I’m alone. He kept the water notably clear – said he learnt from zero on his own to keep it so. Pristine water no doubt was the big part of inspiration.

Written and published on: February 22, 2022.

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An outdoor swimming pool.
Pool Series (1999-2004)

Dried persimmons from Sado Island made me think of.

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Sea gulls over water surface.

Here’s a joke. Don’t feel offended.
A Turk
goes to see a doctor.
He tells him:
“When I touch my body with my finger, it hurts.
When I touch my head, it hurts,
my legs, it hurts,
my belly, my hand, it hurts.”
The doctor examines him then tells him:
“Your body’s fine
but your finger’s broken!”

    – Abbas Kiarostami, Taste of Cherry (1997)

Sea gulls over dark water surface.

I decided December will be a movie month. I’m gonna watch as many Kiarostami films. Maybe not all though, save some for later, ‘cause no more coming from the maestro.

Photos are from my trip to Sado, early August 2003. Shot, with a single use camera I got in a hurry at a kiosk somewhere, from the last ferry boat of the day, my way back to Tokyo. On the isle time passed like a deep sea current, with the kind of depth that does not weigh. I watched for a long time the fading silhouettes, its picturesque rocks and the dark sea widening between us.

Yesterday I closed my eyes and consumed a semi dried persimmon from the island. Sugar in the fruit spoke to me in Sado, and the characters I met there came to life again: silver-scaled sushi fishes in clear teal sea that gets cold at 3pm sharp, a crane with black and red design who had to nearly brush this tourist’s windshield, a coffee at the goldmine that came with a surprise gold flake floating.
Then I thought of the film, words between a man and his third passenger, the depth that doesn’t bind. And the director who passed last July, the way he used time as his medium, and the subtext that does not force meaning.

(The persimmon in question is sold under the name “Anpo”. Melty on the inside, look for the ones from the island.)

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A hand crafted purse with waves.
Sado Island Purse, revisited.
Japanese ceramic roof tiles.
2011.11.28 – Noto Black
A vintage fabric purse.
2020.03.11 – Where Humanity Meets Divine.

California

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Airplane wing in morning sky.
San Francisco city streets in setting sun.
A surfer on a wave.
Sunset at the sea.
Neon market sign.
Open farm field.
Museum dinosaur skeleton.
Dry desert hills.
Bay with a pier.

From top:
1. Somewhere above Pacific, chasing the sunrise.
2. SF, near Ocean Beach.
3 and 4. “Mavericks”, Half Moon Bay.
5. China Town, SF.
6. Midland somewhere between SF and LA along Interstate 5.
7. Museum of Natural History, LA.
8. Agua Dulce.
9. San Simeon.
Photographed during my visit to California in late 2011 – early 2012,

Originally posted on my previous “Photo Journal” diary.

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Beach with a large rock and a tourist.
2017.12.12 – #CaliforniaStrong
Sea surface at sunset.
2013.08.23 – To West and Back

Pool Series

Abstract image of a swimming pool.
Abstract image of a swimming pool.
Abstract image of a swimming pool.
Abstract image of a swimming pool.
Abstract image of a swimming pool.

Taken with single-use waterproof camera.

I, a life-long swimmer, who find the most out-of-ordinary images while swimming, one day decided to record what is really taking place at a common neighborhood swimming pool.

In purified moments of simple awe, I witnessed even a symbol like the cross could escape the weight of history and merge into the otherworldly.

真夏の市営プール、というごく一般的な舞台の文字通り水面下で随時繰り広げられる非日常。長年泳ぎ続けた作者にとっては見慣れた光景を、ある日思い立って使い捨てカメラで記録し始めた。

カメラ持ち込み禁止にもかかわらず、作者の「奇行」を数年に渡り多めに見てくれたプール管理者様に心よりお礼を申し上げます。

Pool Series (1999-2004)
From top:
Graveyard
Burning Cross
Three Crosses
Single Cross
Diagonal

The series was exhibited at Create:Fixate Photography Show, September 2006, Los Angeles, curated by Jason Elias.

Last Edited: November 27, 2020

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