Gelatin Silver, Love!

I went to SHABI in Ebisu to watch a movie i was looking forward to.
The movie was directed by a great, energetic, famous photographer, Kazumi Kurigami.
(Last year i was really touched to read his interview in free papers "GOLDEN MINUTES" distributed widely in Tokyo Metro stations for a while. At that time, the papers were so popular that they were gone soon after being put on the shelf every time. Especially I liked his remark about portrait photo in the article in the final issue.)
As for the movie..., honestly i thought i expected too much...but i liked.
It was quite simple with few lines by actors and actresses.
So I often felt like watching photography and visually enjoyed the texture.
My favorite city, very familiar places for me, Yokohama is featured several times in the movie.
And, needless to say, I liked the theme song "LOVE LILA" by Yosui Inoue, a great singer.

Born Into Brothels

December 13, 2008

I saw a documentary film in Ginza.

A female photographer, Zana , also a producer and director of this film, gave cameras children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district in Calcutta to let them know the fun of shooting.
Then most of children saw the camera for the first time.
They gradually developed the relationships through the photography.

Zana also helped to get several of the children into good boarding schools and helped get one child invited to be part of a children's jury at a World Press Photo Foundation photo exhibit in Amsterdam in 2002, and for him to actually attend.
In the ending, the boy, Avijit surprised me, anyway...
His last remark was so surprising...

By the way, I thought the photographs by children were really amazing.
They were so strong...

And there is a photograph book of their work.

I know the actual situation in the community is very very serious and everything is never shown in the movie, however, I wanna believe they find big/a little hope through the photography than before...

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

I watched a new movie, “Life Through A Lens” in Shibuya on the day it was released, last Saturday.

Annie Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer whose style is marked by a close collaboration between the photographer and the subject.

She established her own style through the work of Rolling Stone magazine.

She has been photographing a variety of portraits of celebrities that amaze people.

One of her famous work is the portrait of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.The more I stared at it, the more I was touched, and finally I was moved to tears.

How strong it is...!

Needless to say, it's famous the portrait was last photograph of John Lennon, who was shot to death 5,6 hours later from the interview with Annie.

There are many portrait photographers in the world.However I was really encouraged by knowing how much she was energetic about portrait and photography itself.

I bought a pamphlet of the movie after finished. In the pamplet I found the lines as follows.

“Diane Arbus was dead to photography. While SHE, Annie is alive with photography.”

It's impressing for me.　Yes, Annie is really alive and bright with photography.

About my feeling I like Diane Arbus, nothing has been changed, however I think I also want to be alive with photography for good as Annie.

The movie inspired me a lot, anyway.

I just want to keep shooting until I die.

Yes...!