The first reading is about Tokihiro Sato, a famous Japanese photographer.
His specialty is that he is good at using very long exposures. Although I have
seen a lot of long exposures photographs before, and I can realize different
meanings or feelings from them, for example, some of them are about movement,
some of them are about nature, even some of them are about nothing to me.
However, Tokihiro Sato’s works are totally different. I can clearly see an exact
topic which is about life from his famous works, Photo-Respiration. Although
none of these photographs contain a person in it, through the light or the
point of light, I can feel that there is a beautiful life in it. I know that he
have to use people to move the light in front of the camera, but because of the
long exposure, only light left, not people. As a result, what I can feel is not
the light moved by human, but the life of the light, and a kind of new life
behind the light. Just because there is no human or even animal in the scene,
the “magic” spots or streaks give viewers a grant space to imagine. No matter
what viewers think, it will be a pure and fresh feeling which is similar as
breathing and life.
Besides, various kinds of cameras invented or constructed by
Sato make him more special and outstanding. That’s why people would like to
think him as a visual artist who is appropriating the medium of photography,
not the traditional photographer. In terms of his camera, the multiple pinhole
camera is a great trial. After I saw the Brooklyn Bridge he took with that, I
was totally shocked. Not only because the method he came up with, but also because
of the beautiful art he showed with that. I have ever tried some ways to record
the historical construction Brooklyn Bridge, I never got a satisfied method to
do that. However, Sato really did it. The 24 photos of different parts and
different angles of Brooklyn Bridge combine together to a whole photograph
which shows the beauty of the famous bridge in a special but simple way. If we
see these 24 photographs separately, we can hardly find any specialty from
them. However, if we put them together, an abstract and contort Brooklyn Bridge
is showed in front of our eyes. I used contort, not because it changed the
basic shape of the bridge, but it makes the bridge more vivid. I believe that this
is a better way to record the bridge compared with using a fisheye lens. The
differences between using a traditional camera and using Sato’s camera are that
the traditional camera gives viewers a bridge to their minds, while Sato’s
camera gives a feeling of the bridge to their hearts.
Another reason why Sato succeeded is he follows his heart to
make his idea come true. No matter the method he used or the scene he chose, he
did a lot for them. In my opinion, he knows what is his life, or what the
exposure of his life tells him. He was a sculptor before, but he didn’t give up
his advantage in Sculptor when he became a photographer, he combined them and
built up his own form of photograph. I think this is a good example for me, I
should also find my own advantage to build up my project in the class. What’s
more, Sato knows how to create things to help him to achieve his goals. When he
has a scene in his mind, he will do something to make them out. This also
encouraged me, and I know that when I have some ideas, I should not be afraid
of failure, I should try my best to do it, and I believe that it is a necessary
character in ITP studying, and only in this way, I can really find the value of
my life.
All in all, Tokihiro Sato’s works make me think a lot, and
it provides me a new way to know photograph, sculpture, and media. Meanwhile,
Video Sculpture also makes me re-know the world around me. I believe through
this semester’s studying, I will get a deep cognition of the exposure of my
life.
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