Friday, January 23, 2009

Untitled, Unscripted






3 comments:

visual gonthros said...

Do you want to know what this is? Ask as a comment...

Anonymous said...

The birthplace and home of mankind is an empty shopping arcade? Poignant if true, though I guess you could find a humorous side to it too. I don't really get what the third photo from the top would bring to this interpretation, so maybe I'm on the wrong trail to begin with.

Anyway, did you break your xacti or something? This lo-fi approach will do in emergencies but I would kindly suggest not relying on it for normal work.

visual gonthros said...

Maybe the empty shopping arcade (at 6:30 PM) is the road to the birthplace of humankind. Or the path away from it... I think walking the hondori is an important part of the Tenri experience. It's a drastically different place depending upon time of day and date. It also continuously changes depending on Tenrikyo construction/expansion and shops moving out and in.

The Xacti is fine. But on this particular occasion the anthropologist was being rushed around in the rain and was lucky to pull off a few necessary shots with the cell phone camera (the tried and true back-up). Also, in recent conversations with professional photographers in Japan, some have told me that they intentionally post their photos on the web in low resolution so as to protect their work. This could also be related to ethical issues as someone who objects to a particular shot might not be so inclined to insist it be removed from one's blog if the photo is not print quality. And of course, this is documentary. Documentary is not always pretty...

As for normal work, sometimes the anthropologist needs or intends to have a break. But then when things happen, he regrets not having packed the gear. Should this stop the visual anthro endeavor? But don't worry, the Xacti will return. Thanks for your comments and concern!