Today's events involved running into a friend from a few years back and spending some time around the city. We spent some time doing a little sight seeing at the castle in Nagoya as well as visiting the high school from with both friends graduated from during one of the high school festivals however, that's not where the bulk of today was spent.
I'm at a fork in the road right now on the photography end and it's become a rather frustrating experience today. Looking back at a lot of the popular photography I've come across in the past I've come to realize that it's always been very unintrusive and transient. Often, it's gone to capture a great atmosphere that represents the country and way of life well but at the same time it's from a distance. Something I didn't see until now when I started looking back on my shots, realizing how I got them and wanting something more.
To be honest, before coming here I still hadn't decided what sort of story I wanted to tell. I knew that it had to involve a people element and couldn't just be for, the side lines. The night in Ebisu is about the only night so far that I feeli got what I was after. Nagoya, in contrast, has been the complete counter opposite and I don't feel I've shot anything here even remotely cohesive or engaging.
It's become a struggle that's quite literally kept me from sleeping at night.
In a country that's very much homogenous and puts a heavy influence on fitting in it becomes a mental barrier to step outside that circle, especially being sensitive to the smaller details of the passive culture that's at play beneath the surface.
I have a lot of shots of the back of people's heads and I'm really not happy about that. The approach I had to shooting within Canada doesn't translate very easily to here for me. I've had no problem gettinng infront of people with a 35mm back in Canada for the sake of a shot of people within their environment that is more than just a candid portrait, but a shot that tells a story. I'm not there yet here, even shooting at 85mm has been a struggle. It's very much a mental barrier that I'm trying to overcome and it's lead me to not think heavily on the subject as well as what story I really want to tell by the end of my trip.
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