"Just some photos" from a vacation to Shikoku

Photography: An act of recordation or art?

I recently went on a trip to Shikoku for a week and took a bunch of photos there… As one does, as a photographer. Especially for me, I’m not one that is too fond of travel or a vacation without the act of taking photos.

I’ve been enjoying the editing process of these photos and rather carelessly have been posting them on Instagram— as one individual may. After all, I took these photos, I like them, I have social media, so why not?

As a result, my feed is starting to look like a mixture of a bad version of Todd Hido and a good version of an Instagram travel influencer.

On top- my pinned posts. Bottom 3 rows- recent posts, second row all from Shikoku.

Anyways.

I’ve received a few comments and messages about this “not being it” for me, while also receiving some praise for the images by a different audience. Which I totally understand to be honest. But it got me thinking:

From when do photographs stop being an act of recordation, and start being an art? Or… Is it up to the photographer, to consciously choose sides to be either a “documentarian of life” or “an artist”?

Are you an Eggleston, or are you a Saul Leiter?

These questions are not necessarily mutually exclusive or all-encompassing. As an audience of photographs or a certain photographer however, I do empathize how it can be confusing when someone you support the work of, suddenly seemingly changes “style”.

Especially with photography, I think it just comes down to how much you edit down your work. Or be selective of how much you show of what. Because at the end of the day, I was just one individual with a camera, on a vacation in Shikoku. It ended up raining the whole week, and there are barely any people there. Hence the photographic result— empty, wet scapes with no people. That’s just what was there. I took photos of that. I kind of liked what I saw. And I posted it… nothing more.

Sadly, I do have to admit it’s rough that my “visual signature” is not apparent in them, I know. However, as an individual with a camera, I get excited with new visuals, new experiences, the unseen. The resulting photos remind me of the silence there, of the constant sound of rain against the leaves, and a slow, happy time with my partner.

I am also aware though, that personal emotional investment in artworks (especially in photographs) do not necessarily translate to an audience’s perception of the work. This is a sad truth, and a truth that makes me a little more conscious about selection and how I present my work. Ultimately, the audience wasn’t there with you. So to reel them in, you need to create a compelling enough story to be invested.

To repeat. These were just the scenes that were provided to me by the world. Eggleston famously had a “Democratic” view to image-making, where he just took stuff in front of him. Never cared about selection or editing or taking multiple images. He believed that every scene in front of him was of equal value and needed our love and attention equally. (There are some contradicting statements from him too though, so let’s just use this as an example for debate’s sake)

Saul Leiter on the other hand, took thousands of images and was very conscious of what he showed to people and how it was shown. His images were also totally deprived of geographic or documentary context (at least in my view). He chose images he thought was beautiful and spent time with them. He’s way dead so there’s no way of confirming this too.

So, are you an Eggleston, or a Saul?

In Conclusion

I feel like I can go on forever on this topic. There is no answer, and I have no answer.

Photography can only be done through the scenes provided to you, through your own journey in life. Life goes at you quick, and the same with me. What I attempt to do is try to capture what’s provided in front of me, in the best way possible. It is what it is. Obviously when it comes to something like a book or exhibition, I’m more cautious with selection. So will I make a book mixing these photos with my “street” photos? Probably not. Maybe I’ll find some use for them somewhere else, over a long period of time.

Should I have been more prideful in my work as an artist and not posted these? Well- maybe so, but it’s fun to change things up and learn from new ways of seeing. Throughout the lifetime of my Instagram account I’ve simply been posting the photos I took and that I like during that given time. I’ll probably go back to posting more “streety” photos anyways, since I’m back in Tokyo.

I’ll show some other photos I took in Shikoku. Enjoy!