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Visionary Photographer, Eikoh Hosoe
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TAXI
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TAXI You come from Japan, a nation legendary for the wealth of cultures. Will you credit the accessibility to the arts the key push factor to your successful career?
Eikoh Hosoe Yes. Japanese photography has been very popular for many years. And now, with the software aspects of the photography world, as well as hardware aspects, Japan, as you know, is one of the major countries to produce cameras in the world. Professional photographic schools, college-level, only started in 1922 in Japan. I have been a professor of this polytechnic which was established in 1922, but that would have taken photography forward another 18-20 years. Photography is very popular in Japan, as far as it’s concerned.
TAXI You conducted countless workshops and promoted photographic education very actively. What do you think is the primary challenge to the development of photography?
Eikoh Hosoe Photography has much positive energy and capability in its medium itself. When you take a photo at the instant of 1/1000 of a second, and the moment can become an eternal fact, an eternal moment. So we have a philosophical problem of objectivity and subjectivity.
Eikoh Hosoe Yes. Japanese photography has been very popular for many years. And now, with the software aspects of the photography world, as well as hardware aspects, Japan, as you know, is one of the major countries to produce cameras in the world. Professional photographic schools, college-level, only started in 1922 in Japan. I have been a professor of this polytechnic which was established in 1922, but that would have taken photography forward another 18-20 years. Photography is very popular in Japan, as far as it’s concerned.
TAXI You conducted countless workshops and promoted photographic education very actively. What do you think is the primary challenge to the development of photography?
Eikoh Hosoe Photography has much positive energy and capability in its medium itself. When you take a photo at the instant of 1/1000 of a second, and the moment can become an eternal fact, an eternal moment. So we have a philosophical problem of objectivity and subjectivity.
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TAXI And how does that translate into a challenge?
Eikoh Hosoe Well, it is not a controversial creation in between objectivity and subjectivity. So we have to consider the two extremes like the earth—the north and south poles-- and in between, there is a wide range on a spherical surface, not on a linear line, in between you have mountains, you have the oceans, and the continents, so you have so many number of activities to prepare. And photography has such a great possibility.
TAXI A little more onto your philosophy, you published Embrace in 1971 which focuses on the dialogue between men and women, which cleverly abstracted the flesh. How does your photography aim to communicate the invisible, or anything intangible, to the one looking at your works?
Eikoh Hosoe Well, Photography is not only a mean of communication but also a means of expression. A Photographer is an artist who manages, who operates a camera which has the capability of rendition of objectivity, very realistic. But the man, who is behind the camera, the photographer, is very complicated, with much subjectivity, interpretation. So using that kind of media which has the power, the man behind the camera is so much complicated. This kind of relationship has much potential energy and Potentiality. And photography has only 170 years of history. So it has much more possibility in the future.
Eikoh Hosoe Well, it is not a controversial creation in between objectivity and subjectivity. So we have to consider the two extremes like the earth—the north and south poles-- and in between, there is a wide range on a spherical surface, not on a linear line, in between you have mountains, you have the oceans, and the continents, so you have so many number of activities to prepare. And photography has such a great possibility.
TAXI A little more onto your philosophy, you published Embrace in 1971 which focuses on the dialogue between men and women, which cleverly abstracted the flesh. How does your photography aim to communicate the invisible, or anything intangible, to the one looking at your works?
Eikoh Hosoe Well, Photography is not only a mean of communication but also a means of expression. A Photographer is an artist who manages, who operates a camera which has the capability of rendition of objectivity, very realistic. But the man, who is behind the camera, the photographer, is very complicated, with much subjectivity, interpretation. So using that kind of media which has the power, the man behind the camera is so much complicated. This kind of relationship has much potential energy and Potentiality. And photography has only 170 years of history. So it has much more possibility in the future.