History of Japanese Photography
...The most obvious differences concern format, including lacquer-framed portraits and the practice of mounting prints on silk scrolls. Less evident are qualities of the subjects themselves. Three wars created an entirely different arena for photographers. These are the photographs that attract me the most. The shots that show the history of a people are wonderful to view. Pioneer Ueno Hikoma shot the aftermath of the Satsuma Rebellion in 1878, transforming a bullet-riddled building in an overgrown landscape. This picture shows the ability of the people to overcome hard times but yet reminded of what happened so long ago. The depth of field in this picture was outstanding. The detail of this shot is exceptional for the era it was taken. This picture is a favorite due to the tone that was used to bring brightness to an otherwise war torn building. Kamei Koreaki went into the battlefields of the Sino-Japanese war and produced an image of the dead as chilling and graphic as any picture I have ever seen. The way he used the separate the dead bodies to draw emphasis to how brutally the men died. The outline silhouette of the dead solders and the high level of contrast of the shot give it morbid strength. This photo explains how war was devastating to their people. This photo sends a message that war is not what you think it is. It is much worse! Rare is the image that documents the aftermath of conflict with the power of Tomatsu Shomei's horribly evocative photograph of a glass bottle, distorted into a fleshlike object by the atomic bomb blast in Nagasaki. This is a photograph taken of a dark glass bottle that was in the atomic explosion. The bottle instantly was shaped into a disturbing twist of glass without breaking. The twisted glass resembles anything but that of a bottle. The photo was taken in front of some kind of dark background that might have looked like a photogram unless otherwise informed. The bottle seemed to be suspended in the air. Many dark tones used at eye level to capture the disturbing picture. The line of the picture seems to sway you from top to bottom emphasizing the strong lines of the heat twisted glass bottle. Once you have read what the item is it reminds you the power of the blast and the devastation it may have c...