Photography | Interview w/ Tokio Matsubara
Our interview with Japanese photographer, Tokio Matsubara. Thank you to Michioto Publishing, to make the interview between languages and continents possible and to Mr. Matsubara for his time.
Tokio San in Japan
Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you discovered your love of photography?
When I was a child, there was a type of candy that offered a free camera, if you collected a certain number of proof of purchase stickers. I ate lots of candy and got my first camera, and since then I have enjoyed capturing all kinds of things with my camera, and I fell in love with photography. I liked painting as well. I was in both clubs painting and photography in high school, but I thought it would be difficult to make a living at painting unless I was very good at it. However I thought photography might work, and that's when I started concentrating on photography.
Where are you currently living and what is a typical day in your life like?
I live in Wakayama prefecture, in a town called Wakaura. It is a mysterious town with a unique atmosphere facing the Wakaura bay I go to the sea every day, and my day usually depends on the tide. If the high tide is early, I go to the beach as soon as I wake up, and if itʼs late, I eat before going out.
In the morning, I take pictures of the beach and scenery, and when Iʼm done, I go home for lunch.
In the afternoon, depending on the tide, Iʼll go back again. When I have time, I go in the darkroom and print the photos.
Sometimes I take a nap. In the evening I go to the beach to take photos. At night, I organize negatives or listen to music with large speakers which I made myself. I eat dinner and go to bed.
“My first desire was to capture the beauty that is around me, and I have always wanted to continue photographing the place where I was born for the rest of my life.”
A canvas of sand is so ethereal and beautiful, what was the inspiration behind the series?
My first desire was to capture the beauty that is around me, and I have always wanted to continue photographing the place where I was born for the rest of my life. The closest thing to me was the ocean, where something different happens every day. The weather, tides, rising seaweed, and so on, all have an effect. I always wanted to capture the beach that has something interesting to see, and “A canvas of sand” was made by those activities.
What inspired your photos of Okinoshima? Over how many days did you work on this series?
I have been photographing Okinoshima for long time. For publishing the “Okinoshima” photo book, we used the color photos which I took with reversal films from 1980 to 1995. As mentioned above, photographing beautiful things around me is what I wanted to do, so I continued to do that, and it led me to the Okinoshima photo book.
Is there a special story behind the photos or does Okinoshima hold certain significance in your life?
The color of the island changes rapidly from morning to afternoon. The change is so interesting that I have been taking pictures of it for a long time.
Also I always thought the shape of the Okinoshima as an island was good. It looks like the island which appears on the old Japanese TV show "Hyokkori Hyotanjima" that aired in the 1960s that I used to watch. The lighthouse is there, and the shape of the island is similar.
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