Shinichi Yajima
“ Bubble ”
1997Grand Prize
ARTIST STATEMENT
Bubble
Things, which are light and transparent, look fragile like soft bubbles. When I visited my friends and had tea or meals together, I tried to find such materials, and took pictures of them. Some friends are still living there, and others have moved. Those who still live in the same place have used up their shampoo or remodeled the interior. The cut flowers withered and were thrown away. The places in my pictures are either gone or changed, and I realize that I'm taking pictures of something sad.
I want to go somewhere interesting. It is difficult for me to reject temptations. I always give in. I tend to go after the easier and more pleasant. I'm always searching for comfortable moments; the moment I begin to walk, the moment I listen to my favorite music, the moment I eat delicious food, and the moment I fall asleep.
In my daily life there are comfortable moments I look forward to. To me, taking pictures is just like getting such moments. It may happen in my room, on the street, at the ocean, or anywhere.
Selecting judge: Fumio Nanjo
The only picture I value is that of a bathroom window. The clear crystal light and air depicted in this photo are materials that can hardly be photographed. If he made a series of such pictures, he could develop a new area. I do not understand why the picture of a girl is included. The idea of bubble and soap is too shallow. I expect more a extensive or deeper concept, and I want him to make twenty of such photographs. I'm very anxious to see them.
PROFILE
Shinichi Yajima
Shinichi Yajima was born in the city of Chichibu, Saitama in 1975 and graduated from Saitama Prefectural Chichibu High School. At the age of 31, he left his company job and today he works as a photographer using the great outdoors as his medium.
He loves gentle mountain terrain and marshy mountain streams and is infatuated with the sense of desolation one feels as late summer bleeds into early winter. He is rather inept at climbing around obstacles at high altitudes or passing along rocky cliff edges. He tends to avoid physically demanding mountain traverses and photographing near stinging land leeches. His leisure activity of choice is traditional Japanese fly-fishing while enjoying a bonfire in headwater locations accessible without the need of mountaineering skills. He goes birdwatching in the fall and winter, but his lack of real enthusiasm has resulted in very little improvement or depth in the pastime since he was a child.
Shinichi Yajima was a contributor to the book How to Enjoy Yourself in “No Man's Land”: Human-Powered Mobility and Camping Techniques (Graphic-sha).
1997Grand Prize