Between consciousness and unconsciousness

White Sands, New Mexico, USA  2017  (24in x 70in / 61 cm x 177 cm)

太陽が地平線に沈んで、闇が砂漠を静かに包み始めると撮影は終わる。一息ついてから、水筒に残った水を飲みほす。
機材をバックパックに収め、はるか遠くに停めた車に向かう。ずっしり重いカメラ機材と三脚を担いで一日中歩き回ったので、集中力と体力の限界を感じる。砂漠のうねりを感じながらぼーっと歩いていると、目の隅にちらっと何かが映る。振り向くと、「お待ちしておりました、私を撮ってください！」と言わんばかりの光景がそこに展開している。「旅で求めていた出会いはこれ、これなのだ！」。それからは、無我夢中で残光の中での撮影作業に入る・・・。

私が気に入っている作品の数々は余計なことを一切考えていない時に撮影されたものが多い。自分の心に響く光景が見える瞬間は、なぜか、意識が朦朧としていて集中力が弱まっている場合が多い。逆に、意識レベルが高い時に撮影した多くの写真には魅力を感じない。先月、『旅は日常の理性の枠から自分を解放してくれる』ということを書いたが、待ち望んでいた被写体との出会いは、自分の中で眠っていた感性が意識の低下とともに解き放たれることと深く関係しているように思う。感性で捉え、理性で絞り込む。私の作品は感性と理性の相互作用から生まれているようだ。

Shooting ends when the sun sets on the horizon and the darkness begins to quietly fill the desert. After taking a deep breath, I drink up the water remaining in the water bottle. I put the camera equipment in a backpack and head for a car parked far away. As I walked around the desert all day carrying the heavy equipment and the tripod, I feel the limits of my concentration and physical strength. As I walk a while feeling the ups and downs of the desert, I catch something in the corner of my eyes. When I turn my head to see it, there it is: the scene that just says, "I've been waiting for you. Please photograph me now!" This is "the" encounter I have been looking for! After that, I am absorbed in shooting in the afterglow ... 

Many of my favorite works were shot when I was not thinking about anything. When I capture a scene that resonates with me, my consciousness is often stunned and my concentration is weakened. On the contrary, many photographs taken when the level of consciousness is high are often not attractive to me. Last month, I wrote that "travel frees me from everyday reasoning". The long-awaited encounter with the subject of my interest seems to be deeply related to the mind state when the sensibility inside me is released as consciousness declines. Capturing the subject of interest with sensibility and focusing down by reasoning: all my work seems to be born from the interaction between sensibility and reasoning.