Learning What’s Changed By Looking Through the Camera

ーPlease tell us about your projects over the years photographing the streets of Brooklyn and American architecture.

It all started in 2001 with “Riverside Story,” a photograph of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

That year, I moved to Williamsburg. Now it’s a trendy and well-maintained area, but starting at that time, I began to photograph the city in an area with skateboard kids and real character. Then 9/11 suddenly hit New York. The first book of Riverside Story contains the everyday life of Williamsburg and the changing landscape of the city and its people in the face of the horrific events of 9/11.

Then, ten years later in 2011, I photographed again in the same area. In those intervening years, I had really fallen in love with the neighborhood of Williamsburg. The light, the air, the lively people, and all of the everyday things happening there are constantly grabbing your attention. There is something to be felt in seeing something over time, which is increasingly interesting even after 10 years. This is how I put together “Riverside Story 2”. Now it’s 2021, so it’s been exactly 20 years since Riverside Story. This year I’m planning to shoot again in the same style.

This kind of activity is like a “fixed-point observation,” and it’s also my visual diary, where I can see different stories in each book, especially over a long time. There are people of flesh and blood, combined with an architectural space, from which a story can be created. Whether you are photographing artists and their works, or architects and their buildings, the perspective is the same. This is the perspective of an environmental portrait or cityscape photographer.
I enjoy shooting in this style the most and I think it represents where I stand as a photographer.