Hello.

A person I consider to be a good architectural photographer is Ano-san. He is currently working and doing well. The other person whose work I consider to be a good photographer is Ogawa-san. I also feel that foreign architectural photographers are a little different in their approach to photography than their Japanese counterparts. Other young photographers in Hokkaido who did not mainly take pictures of architecture but also took pictures of architecture (I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ve lost track of that one) and Sasanokurasha, who took pictures in the Kansai region, also seem to have good skills.

On the other hand, there are not many people who are good at taking pictures other than those mentioned above. I recently got to look closely at his photos because I heard a name I’ve heard a lot about, and it’s not very good. There was no attention to detail, no atmosphere, and all the photos felt like they were just taken, which made me wonder why I was asking this person to take them. Perhaps it was because he belonged to a star architectural photographer’s agency, regardless of whether he was good or not. There are too many photos that can be taken with a super wide angle lens and a tripod. Takashi Homma took a picture of the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura by Brutus, and I like that picture very much. I think that people who take architectural photos should always look for that kind of perspective.

In the end, I think you have to be creative and always think “good, always good” to make a good photo. Also, if you are a bad architecture photographer, I think it would be better to have an ordinary fashion or advertising photographer take the architecture photos. I think that fashion and advertising photographers are always thinking about color, composition, light, etc., so they’re not always the same, they’re different and unique.

The recent trend is that CG is getting closer to live action (in the sense of high definition, improved software performance, shadows, etc.) and photography is getting closer to CG with the improvement of digital camera performance (HDR, not destroying all tones in an explanatory way). I think it’s a good idea to use the new things that can be done when camera performance improves, but it’s not necessarily necessary for a photographer to be on board with the improvements in camera manufacturer performance. A photographer must always be at the forefront of expression, regardless of manufacturer, and think about it more than anyone else. If a photographer’s expression is dependent on the manufacturer, it’s the end of the world. A manufacturer’s technology is a vehicle. If it’s good, use it, and if it’s not good, change it.

I’m a bit tired of the architectural photography that is often done by using a shift lens to shoot horizontally and vertically and that’s all there is to it. True architectural photography is a battle between the architect and the architecture itself, and between time, light and color. If you’re not careful even a little bit, you’ll lose. There are very few times when you can photograph architecture. If you don’t take a serious look at the building at the right time, you will never get the chance to capture it again, and the building will be represented by a bad architectural photograph. It’s a shame that an unattractive architectural photograph will always remain.

This is not a criticism, but I think Yukio Futagawa is probably the most famous Japanese architectural photographer. His early black and white work is a bit better, but I don’t like his later color photos, the (presumably) digital photos of commercial buildings, or the way they are presented in his books. The reason is that I don’t feel the commitment. The best Japanese master of architectural photography, in my opinion, is Osamu Murai. Osamu Murai’s black and white architectural photographs are wonderful. Perhaps it’s because many of my favorite photographs of modern architecture are taken by Murai-san. When I was reading a book on modern architecture, I found some cool and crisp architectural photos that made me cringe, and when I looked up the photographer’s credit, it was usually Osamu Murai (in recent years, the only person who made me cringe was Taichi Ano). Some people say that color photos are not good since they were taken, but I think color photos are good too.

Designing and constructing a building is very difficult, and there is only one photo of the completion of the building, etc. That will be the main visual of that architecture. Recently, an architectural photographer whose name I often see, took a lot of bad photos (maybe it’s easy for him to do this…I felt it was too lazy for me), so I am a little disappointed that I had to write this. I hope that architects, design firms, and clients will look at a lot of photos and find a photographer they like, to see if they are really good, what a good photo is, and if they like the photographer’s work, and enjoy it.

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