【Column】“Travel” and Photography / Ryo Ohwada | GR official

When I journey, I often take photographs. The technique of transportation differ—prepare, automobile, or airplane—however I all the time maintain my lens pointed on the view outdoors the window. Recently, I flew from Haneda Airport to Yonago Airport to go to Matsue City and attend the forty sixth GR meet 47. Even on the airplane, I took photographs with my GR pressed towards the window whereas gazing out on the view.

I nonetheless vividly keep in mind an incident from my scholar days. One day, a trainer projected photographs taken from an airplane window for an prolonged time frame utilizing a Kodak slide projector. I’m wondering how lengthy it lasted. The photographs did not present any dramatic moments; they solely confirmed the sky, clouds, and elements of the plane. When the projection ended, the trainer requested a scholar, “How was it? Tell me your honest feelings.” The scholar hesitated barely and replied, “Well, I think it was boring.” The trainer then exclaimed, “That’s it! That’s exactly what I intended!” Laughter stuffed the classroom. I had a peculiar, conflicted response once I encountered this type of expression, as if I may realize it but concurrently could not.

That expertise left a small seed inside me. Expression does not all the time should be attention-grabbing or entertaining. In reality, even boredom and monotony can have a sure energy. The incontrovertible fact that I nonetheless keep in mind that “boring” slideshow many years later speaks to its energy as an expression.

After returning to Tokyo, I seemed by means of the photographs I had taken on planes. Since I often maintain my GR in my chest pocket throughout flights, sorting the photographs by digital camera mannequin permits the app to show these taken throughout totally different journeys. As I seemed by means of them, I requested myself, “Do these photos also express boredom, as the teacher demonstrated?” I did not suppose the views from the airplane have been boring once I took these photographs. However, once I gathered them collectively, most of them have been of clouds and the sky. With a couple of exceptions of putting shapes or mild, general, some would possibly name these “boring.”

Ultimately, journey is a means of “going” or “returning,” not the vacation spot itself. There is a faint depth to it, however it’s steady and has few decisive moments. Yet, it’s exactly this that enables for sure types of expression. Like the trainer’s slide projection, the altering surroundings throughout passive, non-subjective journey may very well be a brand new topic of research in images. That stated, taking photographs from contained in the airplane is solely enjoyable, and I’d simply get pleasure from it for what it’s, which could be sufficient for now.

Ryo Ohwada

Born 1978 in Sendai, Japan. Graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic University, Department of Photography, and accomplished the Graduate Course in Media Art on the similar college. In 2005, he was chosen as one of many “ReGeneration.50 Photographers of Tomorrow” by the Kunstmuseum Elysee, Switzerland. In 2011, he acquired the New Photographer Award from the Photographic Society of Japan. He is the writer of “prism” (2007, Seigensha), “Gohyaku rakan (Five Hundred Arhats)” (2020, Ten’onzan Gohyaku Rakanji Temple), “Journal during COVID-19 State of Emergency” (2021, kesa publishing), “Shashin seisakusha no tame no shashingijutsu no kiso to jissen (The Basics and Practice of Photography Technology for Photographers)” (2022, Impress), and with poet Chris Mozdel, “Behind the Mask” (2023/Slogan), and many others. Associate Professor on the Faculty of Arts, Tokyo Polytechnic University.

www.ryoohwada.com