Random Tokyo – Akabane

Hello! It’s time for a blog post again 🙂 I though a lot about what to write about, while scrolling through my Lightroom libraries. Trying to find a pattern in ones images to create a coherent set of pictures is no easy task and I am not good at it.. In the upcoming months there will be posts about my workflow handling film, scanning film and so on.

However, seeing as Daniel just moved to Tokyo to complete an internship, I looked through my film pictures of Japan, where I started off with film photography!

I took most of the following during a walk around the Akabane area of Tokyo. I was 19 at that time, and, looking back now everything seemed incredibly novel at that time. I can still remember how I basically had to take pictures of a lot of things, just because they seemed to be so different from what I was used to seeing in Germany.

Akabane Heart
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Kodak TriX@400

Back home, a lot of the untidy stuff is hidden behind fences or is located in the backyard of apartment blocks, whereas in Japan most of it is out front in the open due to the lack of apartment building blocks with an enclosed backyard.

Rolleiflex SL 35 E, Kodak TriX@400

Unfortunately, I can’t exactly recall what the purpose of the metal barrel next to the fine grained particles was, but it seemed interesting and certainly unusual at that time. Akabane consists of a lot of older homes which are still used but can come across was as runs down. I really enjoy that sort of Japan, as it makes for a stark contrast to the high tech, polished areas. However, a huge amount of of the population still lives in in older style buildings.

Trophies put to Use
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Kodak TriX@400

Trophies are always kind of interesting, they are very nice when you get them, but what is nice is more the act of accomplishing something and then receiving recognition for it, rather than the physical trophy in itself. The physical manifestation of the achievement does not hold its value and simply becomes something you don’t actually need. The person who received those trophies certainly made the most out of them, not throwing them away and still getting value out of them by using them as a door stopper!

The Wall - Akabane
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Kodak TriX@400

This part of Akabane seemed interesting to me, or a little strange so to say. It’s a little like what the media would have me believe what Russia is supposed to be like, grey and made of chunky concrete (I now know that that is certainly not the case). However, it does certainly has its charme!

Elephant Slide
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Kodak TriX@400

This playground was kind of special in of itself! I was used to playgrounds made out of wood and metal so it appeared odd to my why someone would make one out of concrete. However, it is in itself well designed I think, thought was certainly put into the slide to make it look like an elephant 🙂

Playground
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Kodak TriX@400

The large slide!

Playground snake
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Kodak TriX@400

I whish there were items like this in large on playgrounds for adults to hang onto.

Sputnik
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Kodak TriX@400

I couldn’t help being reminded of Sputnik when I saw this item, although it certainly does not really resemble Sputnik itself. The atmosphere of the playground could suggest it however.

Teddy
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Kodak TriX@400

I don’t remember much where exactly I encountered the Teddy on the car, but I recall that it seemed to have been there for quite a long time…

Tokyo Tower
Rolleiflex SL35 E, Ilford Delta 400

Have fun in Tokyo Daniel!

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Nimar

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.