Essay on Leibovitz and Nachtwey

　　　In last two classes we watched “Annie Leibovitz: Life through a lens” (2008) and “James Nachtwey: War Photographer (2001)”. Leibovitz and Nachtwey are photographers from the United States. Though they are both great photographer their backgrounds and styles are different in many ways.

　　　First of all Annie Leibovitz is from a big family with six siblings. Her family used to travel a lot by car and the views from the car window were like variety of pictures to her. When she started to go to school her interests in art became bigger and especially she worked hard on photography. She has worked in many different fields but her career at the Rolling Stones magazine affected a lot on her life. She often takes pictures of famous celebrities with arty concepts. However the people who are taken by Leibovitz say they are completely comfortable to be taken pictures by her. That is not only because her reliable career backgrounds but also her personality that she tries to bring her idea and ask people about their ideas as well. There are many of her pictures have vivid colors like “Alice in Wonderland” (2003). I like those pictures because even though the main object of pictures is Alice, my eyes never get bored but not bothered by other objects either. Everything in these pictures entertains in its own ways. 

 

Annie Leibovitz: Photo from V:olta

 

Annie Leibovitz: Photo from Flickr by Duy's Photo Shoots

　　　The picture of Leonardo Dicaprio is a black and white picture but I like this one as much as her pictures with color. Its composition suits to the simplicity of the object and texture of grass and Dicaprio’s hair reflect each other.

 

　　　Next photographer, James Nachtwey is a war photographer who has been to many battlefields and countries suffering from poverty to take photos. 　　　

 

James Nachtwey: South Africa, 2000 - Grandmother cared for young girl affected by HIV.

 James Nachtwey: A homeless couple in Jakarta, Indonesia, sleeps on the railroad tracks. 

　　　He wants to take pictures because he thinks his job is to give people in those countries a voice by taking their pictures. Also he figures that photography is a form of communication and not art. Since the objects that he takes picture of are often war, he has never been happy about his works. If you compare to his pictures with pictures of Leibovitz you can easily find there are many differences. For example, obviously the objects are totally different and there are no setups or beforehand plans for most of the pictures of Nachtwey.

 　　　As similar points both of their pictures do not have superfluous objects in the pictures. Which means what they are trying to show or tell is clear and easily understandable. Also they both think that the pictures are communication tool in some ways. Overall I found that photography could be a great communication tool or entertainment as a piece of art when I watched about Annie Leibovitz. However the war photography can be still controversial in a way to take photos sometimes without permission. In a movie nobody gets mad at Nachtwey but I do not think that every single people willingly allow to take photos of their misery or loss even though it might help their situation or country.

 

Japanese People Portrait

　　　Since I am a Japanese student I had no idea who to take pictures of. I could have taken photos of my Japanese friends but it will be too easy and not that interesting. Also I knew they would be too shy to be taken photos and put them on my blog. So I decided to put photos of my little cousin. He and his family live in a small town in Tohoku area where is northern part of Japan. I visited them this winter break and took many pictures there.

　　　He is 12 years old elementary school student. He wakes up in the morning really early everyday and during the winter he helps his father and grandfather to shovel the snow in front of their house. His parents and grandparents told me that he is really good at shoveling the snow and proud of him about it. He plays table tennis and recently he has got a first prize at the city tournament. Also he is good at video games as other children nowadays though I beat him for a few times with playing Super Mario cart. 

　　　

　　　He has a younger brother and I sometimes enjoy seeing their differences. First of all his brother tend to do things by himself like reading books or playing with blocks. He is sort of a master of knowledge in the house and he talks lots about anything constantly till someone stops him. However the other one seems like to have fun by sharing things with some other people. Though he is only 12 years old, he cares about others a lot and make sure everyone is happy. I cannot see them often but I would love to keep in touch with them and cannot wait to see him and his family in Osaka the end of this month.

Neighborhood Hirakata

       I have been living in Hirakata for almost 2 years. I moved here from my hometown to go to Kansai Gaidai but I did know nothing about Hirakata before I came here though I had abstract image about Osaka as crowded, cheerful, friendly, and sometimes harsh. But I realized those stereotypical images only fit to big cities in Osaka not Hirakata city. I like Hirakata for two reasons. First I can go to both some big cities in Osaka and lovely cities in Kyoto. Next reason is the quiet environment with lot of nature and pretty residential area. Though I am a Japanese student I have lived in the dorm for the international students since last semester. I used to live in an apartment in Hirakata before but I like the neighborhood better now.

This is near the place I used to live.

        On Saturday it was sunny and warm in the morning so that I decided to go for a walk with my camera.

        1 minute after I left the dorm I saw a lady who was carrying a dog walking towards me. She was smiling and said “お散歩？”(Are you going for a walk?) and I said yes. Then I realized that was a lady living in front of the dorm and that was my first time that I talked to her though I have lived in the dorm for over 6 months.

Right: The way to the supermarket

Left: The way to school

        Next neighbor that I met was this guy :)

        He showed up suddenly from the corner and seemed really happy. I whistled to get his attention but he was really excited about the spring weather and having no leash or owner.

        

        I was walking as I go to school everyday but this time was not to go to school but to see and take picture of the neighborhood. I found many things that I do not notice usually and felt I was seeing some new things with different aspects.

Recommendations about Japan

    There are many beautiful places and exciting entertainments in Japan that I want to recommend for foreigners. You might find it hard to decide what to experience first in Japan, but the cultural and traditional events never disappointed you.

    I want to recommend two exciting events in Kyushu where is the southern island of Japan since I am from there.

First event is called "Karatsu Kunchi".

     This event has started since 1661. The event is held for three days and there will be 14 floats are brought out to the town of Karatsu in Saga prefecture. 

    Those floats are cultural assets of the prefecture and each area inside of Karatsu city have their own floats and bring them with saying “エンヤーエンヤー(enn-ya, enn-ya)”. About 500,000 people are coming to the event every year to see the dynamic floats with energetic Karatsu citizens.

Here is the website of Karatsu Kunchi festival.

Next event is “Saga International Balloon fiesta”. 

        This is a relatively new cultural event in Saga prefecture compare to Karatsu Kunchi. The event has started since 1978 and it is held in Saga prefecture in November. This is the official Balloon competition so that many crews from all around the world come to Saga prefecture to compete. They do not only compete but also they entertain audiences by lighting up their balloon at night.

Here is the website for 2011 Saga International Balloon Festival.

    Even though Saga is a small prefecture there are many exciting events and you will be definitely enjoy the beauty of nature as well.

(Image from here)