Sohei nishino photography backdrops

With a camera in hand, I walk through specific cities to take photographs-- those of birds' eye views, of views captured by looking up above me or views from various locations along the road. Thereafter, referring to the map, I put together on various canvases all the "fragments" that I have captured, so as to reconstruct my memories to enable myself to render into images the specificity of the respective cities and the appearance of "the present" whose glimpse the cities have given me.

By doing so, I try to express again the geographical representations by using the photographs that have captured the specific things and events that are completely different from the symbolic representations on maps. This is my attempt to express the appearance of the cities by integrating my personal experiences and memories. What results is not at all a map to convey precise information, but the record of how I, as a human being, have walked through their streets and how I looked at those streets.

Along with being the representation of my awareness, it is that of the appearance of the respective cities as the epitome of their vitality. So, in a sense, it is closer to drawing and painting for me. Recently I have also become more interested in drawing too. I see my work as a kind of tapestry, which is woven by thousands of threads in order to create one image.

One thread symbolises me and the act of my movement, and all my creation and movements connected to each other to weave one piece as long as life. Drawing is very close to this idea too. BJP: How do your newest works, Everest and Journey of Drifting Ice expand on themes from your previous series, and how do they diverge — what new themes are you exploring?

SN: I have created work in a number of cities around the world but recently I have grown interested in nature and expanding my territory of observation and physical movement. I have become more focused on moving itself, so, for my recent work, I travelled along the Po river, Italy, which is km long from the source to the Adriatic Sea. Exploring Everest was also a journey during which I did not stay in, or return to any one place.

Sohei nishino photography backdrops

These changes have not only affected how I create work but also how viewers look at my work. I persuade the audience to move while they look at the photographs. SN: As I reached the top of one mountain, another huge mountain stood in front of me. At first, I found myself flinching at the daunting scale of the new challenge. I started the journey sohei nishino photography backdrops my assistant and a Sherpa, carrying rolls of film and large cameras on our shoulders.

I wanted to photograph the mountains of Khumbu, trekking paths, people living along the routes, climbers, towns, and farms. For cityscape shooting, I usually have a base from where I travel around to take pictures. But, in the mountains, I seldom took the same route twice. Therefore, I had to be extra careful not to miss documenting particular places.

One of the challenges of trekking was getting my body used to the altitude, and during the journey, we were also tempted to walk on the well-worn paths to save energy, but we had to leave them at certain points to shoot specific images, which was exhausting. Diorama Map New Delhi Diorama Map Po RiverItaly Diorama Map Berlin Diorama Map Bern Diorama Map Havana Diorama Map Night Diorama Map i-land Diorama Map Hiroshima Diorama Map Tokyo Then once I'm home I continue the journey of discovery in the darkroom.

His signature photo-collage technique pieces together thousands of images taken over the course of his travels, to construct dioramas of complex geographies which integrate human and physical landscapes. The result is quite different from the denotative expression of a map; it uses photographs single 35mm frames of concrete objects or shapes as units to recreate a geographical representation, expressing the city through human memories and images.

This means that the finished work is anything but an accurate map, it is simply the town as seen through the eyes of a single individual, a trace of the way in which I walked through it, an embodiment of my awareness, a microcosm of the life and energy that comprise the city. It is revered by Buddhists as a gateway to another world. And so, inSohei embarked on the long journey to create a superlative piece of work on this iconic Japanese symbol.

He spent some three months walking up and down the paths of Fuji, documenting the bustling activities of Buddhist priests, families and visitors who make the pilgrimage up to the summit year round. With Japan in isolated lockdown, Fuji took on a new role to comfort and inspire the people that came to climb its slopes. One can see in the detail, the variety of people who come and find succour during their ascent, taking the time to think and gaze at the wonderful views afforded by its elevation.

The climb is steep and can take anything up to 10 hours. Sohei climbed Fuji on several occasions during the official climbing season which is only two months long, July and August, when most of the snow has melted. He climbed it also at night, as many do, and these moments are illustrated by the dark areas in the piece, the pathways sometimes illuminated by flame torches.

Putting your own work onto paper, but also the whole process right up until that point - that is the work: seeing it all through. I take all the photos that I have shot as my raw materials, so that I can use them in making my work. If I didn't print everything out from beginning to endfor me, it would be like the work wasn't complete.

So, it is not that I'm creating the work by selecting images, it is actually more like a process of elimination.