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"It takes time for people to fully appreciate a photo collection. That's why I take such as meticulous approach."
In Hida, there are landslide prevention barriers that people often say are destroying nature. In fact, these barriers help stabilize mountain surfaces and reduce avalanches of rocks and earth, enabling the return of trees and other plants after 10 to 15 years. The fundamental idea behind landslide prevention is achieving harmony between humans and nature based on the knowledge our predecessors amassed over the last 100 years. I heard that the Japanese word sabou, meaning erosion or landslide control, was originally adopted and changed from the Chinese word bousa. Because this didn't quite fit in with sound of the Japanese language, people initially used the word shabou until sabou eventually became the commonly accepted term.
After a large natural disaster occurred at a national park in Iran, a project was implemented to restore the vegetation of the area using Japanese landslide prevention technology. It appears that my photo book entitled "Landslide Prevention in Hida" was exhibited to the people in the region to dispel fears of environmental disruption. Apparently, they agreed with the project after being told that after about 100 years, the vegetation would return and look just like the scenes in my photographs.
I believe photo books can be am extremely powerful means of expression. TV certainly has an impact with images that convey a meaning, but somehow, photographs gradually permeate the mind to leave a lasting impression. Over a period of time, they can change the way people think. That's why I'm so meticulous about my work.
The photo, "Snow falling on the rail siding to a mine", was displayed at the "Shabou of Stars - a Hometown Guarded from Landslides" exhibition held this April. It expresses the feeling of night snow falling soundlessly. For me, snowfall at night conjures up images in hazy, blue colors. When I was a child, we lived in a company house lit with naked light bulbs. Because of this lighting, when I stepped outside on a cold snowy night, the atmosphere seemed to be filled with an ambiguous blue. As in my collection of photos of Kamioka, I wanted to express that blue color from my childhood memories.
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