Here are some photos from an amazing photographer whose photos I spent most of my day thinking about and looking over.
What kind of photography really appeals to me?
Photography that not only captures art, but some kind of powerful sentiment that speaks out to the darkest parts of me that aren’t easily triggered.
His photos had exactly this effect on me.
After rereading Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, I felt a great deal of ambivalence. The potentials of both life and death are both things I think about with quite passion. Haruki Murakami’s poignant imagery of complex characters struggling to come to terms with life, mental darkness, and death had a powerful impact. And even stronger than this initial literary power was resonance. The story spoke out to me, I matched my experiences and cultural desires to it, and this resonance was what made this book an absolute gem. It’s story belonged to me, and I belonged to the story as well.
It was a natural connection –click-
Upon seeing these photos, I felt another sense of resonance and nostalgia. The subject matter and setting also reminded me instantly of Norwegian Wood. This added a new element to the work of this photographer in my eyes.
It became something special, really really catching my eye.
I’ll wander mindlessly through Tumblr and reblog a mountain of anime gifs, japanese street shots, photography, and sassy quotes; but only once in a while will things really speak out to me with such power.
These photos are touching and almost haunting. There is burden hanging behind them: the oppression of life, of death, and of mental darkness that appears in elements of my own dreams and Murakami’s characters as well. We feel a certain weight on the shoulders. There is no clarity to life at times; we drift and tiptoe through wisps of longing and secret until the days blur together.
Does one ever spend their whole life wandering?
Anyway, hope that leaves you with some thinking.
方sir’s Flicker Photostream is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jid1990/
Hopefully I can take all this pent up inspiration inside me and turn it into something good. I’ve been playing secret and some Bach pieces lately on the piano lately. Mostly trying to whip my fingers into playing steadily again. (That’s a lot of arpeggios and scales coming up for me.)
It’s a great output for me these days. Haven’t been able to play more than an hour at any one sitting though, hopefully when the next few weeks pass I’ll be able to just sit down and play as long as m heart desires!
Stay tuned for more and stay lovely.
-A
