Tokyo Street Portrait Workshop
A few weeks ago I signed up for a flash photography workshop run by Japanese photographer Tatsuo Suzuki. Suzuki-san is known for his gritty black and white street photos that capture the movement of the city but also shoots underground rock shows and more recently doing street portraits with models. He keeps to his punk rock roots, no commercial work of any king and makes his living shooting what he wants, self-publishing photo books, gallery shows and doing workshops like these. Mass respect for his commitment to his own style and values.
I’ve been doing mostly street photography for myself for several years now, but have been wanting to do more portrait work particularly night time flash work on the street, so this was a perfect fit. But, not only did I want the technical instruction, it was also a chance to try and practice using my Japanese. I know most people think, “just talk to Keiko”, but the truth is we’ve been speaking English for over 20 years and I get nervous speaking Japanese with her. Put me with a stranger and I’ll stumble, fumble and sound like a drunk 8 year old, but I’ll try. Unfortunately in Japan I weirdly don’t have as many opportunities to speak as I’d like to, partly a result of culture and also living out in the countryside.
I had hoped there would be another student, but I ended up getting a solo course, which was still cool. It was just me, Suzuki-san, and the model Yukime. Yukime is a law student but actually wants to be an actor and does this type of modeling on the side. In Japan universities don’t offer performing arts degrees, instead people pursue through private courses or in “circles” (school clubs). She was excited that night to share that she’d gotten a part in a short film she’d told Suzuki about before.
The Shoot
After meeting at a quieter station near Shibuya, Suzuki-san started by going over the camera and flash setup, fairly straight forward on that. Then for 2 hours we walked to 17 different locations, many back alleys and just generally visually interesting areas that allowed for interesting backgrounds, reflections and light in general.
Suzuki-san has a very gritty, street punk style. Smiling models these are not. The serious direct to camera is intentional to what he wants to achieve. While I’d likely mix it up a bit (I got one partial smile out of Yukime), the point was to work on the technical aspects, and also getting comfortable getting pretty close with the model. I shot on my Fuji XT5 with a 27mm before switching to a 35mm. For those who are not photographers, it just meant that often I needed to get quite close, often holding the camera within a meter of the subject. If anything, getting this practice in helped give me a bit more confidence getting closer.
Overall was a fun experience and I can’t wait to try these techniques out more. I’m in Cambodia at the moment so will try and grab a friend to do some here.
I shot over 400 photos, many variations and near-duplicates. I’ve been so busy with my main job that I’ve not been able to go through all and edit, but these are the ones that I’m currently happier with, that may change. I often like to revisit later as frequently I see things I didn’t see when the photos were still fresh.