しーしゃしん

This morning I re-read the foreword to the photography book Araki Gold. I was surprised at what Araki had to say and it really put a lot of the pictures I've seen of his into context - both from this book and from another book I have of his. I don't think I understood what he was talking about the first time I read through it - I think I was too excited to see what was hidden in the pages of the book to pay close attention to his foreword. This time though it really made a lot of sense.

He refers to his photography style as しーしゃしん (death-photograph). He says that the photograph is a reality between the photographer and the subject and that it is a "private / dead reality." He goes on to explain how photography is showing the relationship between the photographer and the subject and how a looking through the viewfinder is like taking an 'x-ray' of yourself. After reading this, it really forced me to look at these pictures differently and re-examine them to see what exactly was going on in each of them. I think there's a lot of be learnt from his short little humourous (some might call it offensive) foreword.


Anyway... I spent yet another Sunday afternoon in the library studying. I'm trying to think of an appropriate (and somewhat interesting) response to the teacher's usual question:
しゅまつに　なにを　しましたか。　(What did you do on the weekend?)
Hmmmm...
ともだちに　あって、いっしょに　としょかんで　べんきょうを　しました。 This is a pretty lame answer (met a friend then studied together at the library) but... whatever - it will do! I'm not feeling all that brave with my Japanese just yet to try to explain what I did last night. Maybe I'll try writing it out... that would be a good exercise.