I attend a Magnum workshop in Tokyo
Tokyo is the first stop on my five-month trip to Asia. I am back in the Japanese capital eight years later under very different circumstances: I am attending a photography workshop in Magnum agency in Tokyo. My mission, like all the participants, was to express in images my vision of this capital.
Due to the extreme weather conditions this July, the only options I have for taking pictures in good conditions are to get up early or go out at night.
I spent several days in the early morning and after sunset wandering through the gardens of the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which was not far from my hotel.
This place was perfect. It allowed me to stay away from the typical images associated with Tokyo: the Shibuya crossing, the eccentric teenagers of Harajuku and a long list of other Tokyo clichés.
Every morning, we all meet at the office to show the photos taken the day before and receive advice from our teacher. I was encouraged to photograph people in the streets at random. Not very comfortable with this idea, I did it anyway, ready to experiment with something new. In any case, that's what I expected from this workshop: that it would make me get out of my comfort zone.
How do you create stories from random people you meet on the streets? It’s something I’ve never really thought about. And that was the main lesson of this workshop. Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt answered that question long ago.
“ To me, photography is the art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. I found it had little to do with what you see and everything to do with how you see them.” - Elliott Erwitt.
After spending several days in the same area, I spent the last evening in Omotesando, the equivalent of the Champs-Elysées in Tokyo. The timing was perfect. When I arrived, all the shops had just closed their doors. People were rushing into the street to go home. This place inspired me a lot. First of all on an architectural level, and also thanks to all these elegant women who crossed my way.
