One day at Kabukicho #DAY139 - People I met at a smoking area in Kabukicho, I was treated to a can of coffee.
As you can see from the person holding an umbrella in the photo above and the various lights reflecting in the puddles on the road, it's clear that it was an unfortunate rainy day in Kabukicho. It has been a while since I last shot on a rainy day like this.
上の写真に写っている人が傘をさしているし、路面の水たまりにいろんな光が反射していることからもすぐわかる通り、この日の歌舞伎町はあいにくの雨。こんな結構降っている雨の日に撮影をするのはひさしぶり。
They're the ones on this photo I met in the midst of shooting on a rainy day like that. Well, it was raining, and when it starts raining harder, it makes me feel like taking shelter from the rain, so I figured to have a smoke then if I would take a shelter at somewhere. I went to the smoking area, they were there smoking.
そんな雨の日の撮影の中で出会ったのがこの写真の彼ら。まあ雨だから強くなってきたら雨宿りもしたくなるわけで、どうせならタバコでも吸おうと喫煙所に行ったら彼らがタバコを吸っていた。
We didn't start any conversations from the beginning, but I don't know what triggered it, one of them suddenly told me that he treats me to a canned coffee. I declined at first, but the other person kindly told me "It's okay, it's okay," so I thankfully accepted their offer and had them treat me to a canned coffee.
最初から会話したわけじゃないんだけど、なにがキッカケかよくわかんないけど片方の彼がいきなり缶コーヒーを奢ってくれるという。最初は断ったんだけどもう片方の人が『いいからいいから』っていうからお言葉に甘えて缶コーヒーを奢ってもらった。
After that, we chatted for about 5 minutes? Maybe 10 minutes? They requested me to take photos of them, so I took. By the way, I think you'll get that it's okay to post a couple photos here, but of course I've got the permittion to post on SNS and other platforms. However, we don't know each other's contact details, so the photos I took of them will probably only be alive in my own album and on the web.
んで5分くらい？10分くらいかなぁ？いろいろ話していたら写真を撮って欲しいってことで撮った。ちなみにここに載せているってことでわかると思うけど、当然SNS等への掲載許可済み。ただしお互い連絡先も知らないし、自分が撮った彼らの写真は自分のアルバムの中とウェブの中にだけ生き続けることになるんだろうな。
I took this after they left. This is the canned coffee they treated me to.
彼らが去った後に撮った。これが奢ってもらった缶コーヒー。
To be honest, my motivation was a bit off because it was a rainy day for the shoot, but meeting and talking with them made me motivated suddenly. I was thinking of leaving once I had taken a certain amount of photos, but eventually I ended up taking quite a lot.
正直、この日は雨の日の撮影だったことでテンションが微妙だったんだけど、彼らと出会って話したことでなんかその後急にやる気が出てきた。ある程度撮れたら帰ろうって思っていたんだけど、結果的に結構な枚数を撮ってしまった。
Why are there empty cans of alcohol at the entrance of the drinking district? I think it should be better to drink at a bar or something...
なんで飲屋街の入口にお酒の缶が捨てられているんだ？お店で飲めばいいのに・・・。
In this city where many people usually walk without an umbrella if it's in light rain, on this day everyone was indeed carrying an umbrella. By the way, even me who rarely use an umbrella in general, was carrying one while the shooting.
多少の雨なら傘をささずに歩いている人が多い印象のこの街だけど、さすがにこの日はみんな傘をさしていた。ちなみに普段は基本的に傘をさすことなんてほぼない自分ですら傘をさして撮影していたし。
Now, changing the subject, I wrote about the development of the photos taken in the previous article. And I'd like to touch on the topic of photography again this time. When viewed from the perspective of the light and shadow which is often mentioned in photographs, I think this city at night is really difficult to photograph. The actual range of the light and shadow is too wide against the camera's dynamic range to handle. So if I only focus on controlling blown highlights and crushed blacks, I will never be able to take any photos, I guess.
さて、話は変わって前回の記事で撮影した写真の現像のことを書いた。今回も撮影ネタに少し触れておこう。写真でよく言われる光と影って観点からみると、特に夜のこの街は本当に撮影のしづらい街だと思う。カメラが耐えられるダイナミックレンジに対して、実際の光と影の差が広すぎる。だから白飛びを抑えましょう、黒つぶれを抑えましょう、なんて基本ばっかり考えていたら写真なんて撮ることができない。
So, after a while taking photos of this city, honestly I ended up not to think too much about that part. Even if the case of a human being, we were to look directly at a source of light, our vision would turn completely white, and if we were to go into complete darkness, we wouldn't be able to see anything. That's just natural, so I've come to accept it and think of it as something to be expected even if I take a photo of it. For example, it is common for the light source to get overexposure in a photo. But probably even within my own field of vision where I am actually seeing that scenery, that part must be partially overexposed in my field of vision and that's just I'm not consciously aware of it.
なのでこの街を撮っている中で、その部分は正直あまり考えすぎないようになった。人間だって光源を直視したら視界が真っ白になるし、真っ暗闇に行けばなにも見えない。それって当然のことなんだから、写真に撮ったってそういうもんだろうって割り切って考えるようになった。例えば写真の中で光源が白飛びすることなんてしょっちゅうある。だけどたぶんその景色を実際に見ている自分の視界の中でも、意識しないだけでその部分って視界の中で部分的に白飛びしているはずだからね。
Following on from the previous article, this time I have also included some photography topics in my writing. Writing about the subject of a photo shoot occasionally can serve as a kind of memo, as it can be helpful to look back on what I was thinking when taking the photos at that time. Things that can be seen can be preserved by taking a photo, but there isn't always a place to record what I've been thinking. That's why I guess it's best to write it down here, in this place that belongs to me. Probably.
See you then.
前回の記事に続いてまた今回も撮影ネタも織り交ぜて書いてみた。撮影ネタはたまに書いておくと、その時に自分がなにを考えて撮っていたかを後で振り返った時に参考になったりもするからある種の備忘録だったりもする。目に見えたものは写真で記録を残せばいいけど、考えていたことってなかなか記録に残す場所もないしね、ここが自分の場所だからここに書き残しておけばいいんだろう、きっと。
ほなまた。
