Slow photography: delicate, painterly forest landscapes of Japan’s Takeshi Shikama hark back to the 19th century
- Japanese photographer spurns digital devices in favour of a large-format camera, and creates painterly landscapes reminiscent of the 19th century
- His subjects are almost always trees, encountered on long, contemplative walks, as seen in his current solo exhibition in Hong Kong, Contemplations
When people first see images taken by Japanese photographer Takeshi Shikama, they may feel as though they are peering into an earlier era of the medium.
Quiet landscapes delicately rendered in almost painterly shades of grey hark back to the works of 19th century greats such as Carleton Watkins, whose photographs of the Yosemite Valley in California helped bring about the creation of the United States’ national park system.
But Shikama’s own photographs of Yosemite were taken when he visited around 150 years later, between 2010 and 2011.
The images are part of a collection of 32, taken in Japan and elsewhere, currently on display in “Contemplations”, a solo exhibition being presented by Hong Kong-based Boogie Woogie Photography and PhotogStory until January 20.
Born in 1948, Shikama spent most of his life toiling in the urban sprawl of Tokyo as a designer. A self-described “city boy”, it was during a decade-long period when he and his wife were building a forest lodge that he began to develop his deep appreciation for nature.
“Suddenly, I realised something in me had changed,” he says.
So in 2002, he left his career, and has since devoted himself to photographing landscapes.
His subjects are almost entirely trees and other forest scenes encountered while on long, meditative walks that sometimes last 10 hours.
Traces of people are virtually absent in the works on display, save for the occasional presence of a structure such as a torii gate – commonly used to demarcate the entrance to Shinto shrines – as seen in an image he took in Onuma, Japan.
Eschewing the rapid-fire capabilities of digital photography, Shikama works at a slower pace using a large-format film camera. Occasionally he will use a smaller, albeit similarly antiquated, Hasselblad film camera.
These tools, he says, “open [his] eyes to the world”, as each photograph must be carefully considered in a process that allows him to better experience and reflect on the environments in which he finds himself.
Just as intentional is how his images are presented. Each of his photographs is meticulously hand-printed using platinum to produce the image on gampi paper, a material dating back to the 8th century and derived from the bark of the Japanese gampi tree.
Shikama says it is the sense of wonder and the “pull of the unknown” that keeps him going despite having recently celebrated his 74th birthday. He jokes that, given our longevity these days, he anticipates he’ll be photographing for another 20 years.
The risk, in his mind, is whether nature can persevere as long.
The exhibition coincides with the release of his latest photobook, also titled Contemplations. On the inside a quote by Shikama reads: “It is my earnest wish that these photographs of mine will never end up being a requiem for the Earth.”
“Contemplations”, a solo exhibition by Takeshi Shikama, is showing at The Loft, 8/F, E Wah Factory Building, 56 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang, Wednesday to Saturday, 2pm-7pm, until January 20, but closed December 28-31.
