As you may know, I didn’t take a camera on vacation last month. From August 4 to 26, I didn’t even hold a camera, and I found this whole experience quite therapeutic.
For context, I shoot almost every day and in that time I can easily put in 10,000 steps while firing off a few hundred photos with ease. And recently, I’ve decided to shoot less and curate more. What’s been happening is, I cull through all these files and have begun deleting what I don’t like. And no, there hasn’t been a time when I’ve felt like this was a mistake. Five photos of the same window but with slightly different angles? Uh, no need for that. Trashed! Images with a different perspective; shot while standing and crouching? I’ve chosen which I prefer and then, you guessed it. Trashed what I don’t like!
What does this mean for what I share with the world? It means I’m only presenting what I believe is my best work from a session, walk, or experience.
I lost a few subscribers last month. Maybe it's because the "dark and moody Tokyo vibe" wasn’t front and center in my last post? Who knows. I’m here not only to share my world, but also to share work that occasionally veers into another lane. Mind you, I’m not changing lanes entirely, just showing that I’m in full control of my metaphorical driving skills here on ye olde Tokyo Heavy.
On August 1, I started the month with a casual stroll around my ‘hood. These two images are examples of what I normally shoot and what I don’t. The empty lots are usually reserved for B&W film photography, but the sun poking out between the buildings was too good to pass up. And the old building with graffiti? I’ve shot that place for many years now and I’ll have a good library of what it was before it ends up as one of those empty lots.
So, on August 3, I visited Musashi-Shinjo, an area that isn’t on any heatmap or listicle. I shot mostly run-down buildings and dilapidated storefronts, but found a couple scenes that showed their beauty in the opposite direction.
Next up was Sangenjaya on August 27. That night, I hosted a photowalk for two Americans eager to explore a side of Tokyo beyond the train station. Sangenjaya is my favorite neighborhood for these walks because of its sheer diversity. I can guide guests down tight, gritty alleyways, lead them to wider streets lined with unique boutiques, and show them everything in between.
On August 29, I headed to Shinjuku for a photography exhibition. I’m rarely in that area at night anymore, mostly due to the total sensory overload… the noise, the crowds, the stench. After years of capturing tourist hotspots and the seedy spectacle of Kabukicho, these days I’m more interested in finding quiet, eerie spaces in Shinjuku that align with my current, more mellow aesthetic.
And then August was done and over.
This year, I’ve asked people, “When are you going to stop being the student and become the teacher?” and I recently became that student again. I learned to not hold on to things too tightly. So much of what I shoot and share isn’t worth the energy, so I took that stuff out of the equation. Quality vs. Quantity is a game changer.
I’ll leave you with this. I’ve kept a number of quotes in the vault that I unlock from time to time and this one seems pertinent for this occasion. “Those who win the attention win the game.” This is somewhat true. If life is a game, attention helps you hit your metrics. For me the following quote means so much more → “I choose meaning over performance, purpose over achievement, and presence over speed.”
I suppose I can add a quote in there somewhere that talks about deleting scores of photos.
See you on the streets.
*Not a single bit of this was written with help from AI. FTMFW.
I can see the little adjustments you made after taking some time away from shooting. Your eye seems fresh, you tightened it up homey.
Vacation did you some good!