92nd st Y

An improvised photo-session for Yoshiko Chuma's upcoming show at 92nd street Y.

To view the full session, visit my flickr slideshow, or thumbnails.

Mayuna Shimizu at Genlab: Work in progress

I've known her for..., I don't know, but for a long time in NYC.  I've photographed her and collaborated with her several times, as well. But She is the kind of person who shines at her present time.  I visited her work-in-progress showcase last Saturday.  Her performance was very sharp, with sensitive and urban sound track by Soichiro Migita.

There were 5 other performances besides Mayuna's.  I was touched by some of them, as well. 

I could feel their passion, and made me wanna dance.

To view the full coverage of the show, please visit my flickr slideshow, or thumbnails.

君枝物語 - kimie's story

Congratulation, Kimie and Akira!

to see the film, visit Hug Heaven's site.

“X2”- YOSHIKO CHUMA and SHIROTAMA HITSUJIYA

Human being freeze themselves into blocks of ice and seek the spark that will set them free again... 

(Photo top:  Yoshiko Chuma on the left, Shirotama Hitsujiya on the right, Photo bottom:  Shirotama as a "Japanese Bunny")

The two, active Japanese female performing artists, Yoshiko Chuma and Shirotama Hitsujiya, literally met on the street of NYC, and created a collaborative live performance,  "X2", which was performed at CRS (Center of Remembering and Sharing) in NYC, Jan 11th, 2009.

To view the full coverage of the show, visit my flickr Slideshow or Thumnails.

Links:

Yoshiko Chuma:  Artistic director & Choreographer of  The School of Hard Knocks, USA and of Daghdha Dance Company, Ireland.

Shirotama Hitsujiya:  Artistic director & Choreographer of YUBIWA Hotel.

Mr. Becker D

Mr. Becker D. was a customer at fotorush, the one-hour photo lab I used to work about 9 years ago. I worked at fotorush for about 3 years and he used to be one of the most loyal customer there. He told me that he used to be a commercial photographer when he was young.  But the most of the rolls I processed for him were blurred images of somebody's face or flower from a television screen.  I don't know how old he was at that point, but he couldn't hold the camera steady already, and he appeared to be living by himself.

At one point, he stopped coming for a while and we were wondering if he was OK. It turned out that he had a car accident and that made him even older and hard to come out.  But he DID come back. I remember I was pretty amazed, and asked him to pose for me outside the store. I felt I should do this while I can.

Lately I feel strongly that it is nobody else but me who's being saved by taking picture of somebody.

Ballet dancer

Rei Ichikawa is a friend of mine from middle school in Kawasaki, Japan. She has been dancing classic ballet since she was 4 years old. I asked her who got her started ballet, she said "I did, according to my parents, I don't remember, though."