Mobile Photo Studio

The phrase nagashi no shashinya, or "mobile photo studio," comes from the work of late Japanese photographer Ka-tsumi Wa-ta-nabe. Wa-ta-nabe started his decade-plus career as a photographer by taking pictures late at night in To-kyo's Ka-bu-ki-ch? district, doing sets of three photos for ¥200.

The first time I saw his collection Gangs of Ka-bu-ki-ch?, I was pulled in by the feel of the photos. Wa-ta-nabe would roam the streets of Shin-juku, and his "customers" were for the most part people on the margins of society like strippers, hostesses, trans-vest-ites, homeless people, punks, and bi-kers. His working method and accumulated photographs created an enormous body of images of society, documenting To-kyo's unique Shin-juku area and the notorious Ka-bu-ki-ch? district.

Contemplating the "mobile photo studio" idea also reflects on my own work. I don't really accept commercial photography work, and I don't have my own studio. Most of the time I work outside, in someone else's home, or on the streets.

This exhibition was inspired by a group of child lamas from a Tibetan area of Si-chuan, more than 4,000 meters above sea level. In 2009, I was in a professional and personal rut, so I started wandering. Somehow I arrived in a Tibetan part of Si-chuan and, thinking I could teach the kids something, stuck around for a few weeks. From Chengdu- I had headed up to Kang-ding and Ta-gong, watching the scenery outside the window change as we went higher and higher.

I watched this group of children wake up before dawn every day to read sutras and Tibetan texts. At first I hoped I could teach them photography, but I had to stop because their regulated monastic life left them little time for individual pursuits. Seeing these sincere, modest kids and their smiling faces every- day, I felt I had to do something, and what I could do was take a picture of each one. Having seen too many photos that treat their subjects as "exotic" foreigners, I only wanted to present them as people, simply photographing each one individually.

Over the years, the more work I did for magazines and record companies, the more trapped I got in glamorous lighting. The photos needed to be beautiful, so I used a lot of light. The photos had to be clean, so I set up the shots and used makeup to get it just right, and then I still needed to use computer software.... It all gets overwhelming. I like to take photos, and I like people, but I really got trapped.

I was lost for so long, but the kids on the mountain told me with the looks in their eyes and their smiles: All the beautiful lighting and makeup cannot compare with a heart full of simplicity and a true expression. We are the ones who made the world such a mess, and we are the ones who made our hearts so complicated. Photography can be simple and pure after all. This is what the kids on the mountain taught me. They also reminded this photographer to get back to the basics, to use the camera well to document my life and my encounters. This is my Nagashi no shashinya.

Portrait Project 02: Nagashi no shashinya

Time: 26 November 2010-23 January 2011

Place: Art Studio, 3F, Eslite Bookstore Xinyi Branch