An englishman on shooting the Japanese way
I’m half Japanese; I do nothing in any way Japanese; when people ask if I can speak it I mumble an indistinguishable konnichiwa and hope they don’t retort with any more Japanese. Even whilst writing this I fear I cringe at my Anglo-Japanese relationship. But as I have been getting older I have been trying to get more in touch with my Asian side. Luckily Japanese restaurants are easy to find in London; and it’s even easier to act Japanese with your friends in such places by always criticizing the food is awful, and in no way authentic, when in reality I have no idea if it is authentic, or how it should actually taste. My palette for sushi is terrible, my knowledge of Miyazaki is limited to a couple of Studio Ghibli movies, my only beer choice in a Japanese bar would be Asahi and my only gateway to learning the culture (without spending money on a plane ticket) is through my grandmother, but she’s proving to be a tad unhelpful as she has forgotten most her Japanese, can speak limited English, and is now married to a Norweigan chap. I’m unsure of how they communicate, I do know they nod alot, and seem to always be watching home and away.
Now the Fuji Natura Classica seems unrelated to anything written here; however, it is a camera I had been ogling over, years before working at the Lomography Gallery Store London. When I finally was able to get it I knew I had made the right decision. For the first time in my life I felt Japanese! I went out with my friend Su to the first restaurant we could find and we took dozens of photos of the food we ate and the drinks we drank. I then started adopting the peace sign pose in any photo, anywhere, anytime with anyone. I started putting the word super in front of every descriptive word I ever said; I stepped into a Toyota AE86, and bought a Hello Kitty watch, my hair grew outwards and I started dressing more fashionably. It was all so magical!
All of these things tell you nothing about the camera; and I see there to be no point in actually telling you anything. It truly is one of the most fantastically daft cameras I have ever owned. I carry it everywhere; it always gives me perfect photos. But it’s not just that, its the little things on the camera – the fact it has a zoom of 28-56mm, possibly the most useless zoom ever made, if you stretch your arm out ahead of you it will give the same effect. It has a pop up flash that is so tiny it wouldn’t light anything unless it was a metre ahead of you. Even it’s name is far too long, and it has an option for a datestamp(!). But these are reasons why I love it. The whole camera has no point, like so many little things I see from Japan, apart from to be something that, once you get, you will have no idea how you lived without it before.
25 comments
ethermoon
Basically, I would love to have a Fuji Natura Classica Camera!!! Perfect clean shots! and Indoor too!
stouf
Great text and shots !
emilios
Awesome article Mark! Cool pictures as well.
adi_totp
love your shots!
a_lion
Photo 2 is just sublime!
mikahsupageek
great shots !
eatcpcks
great shots and funny story thanks!
wuxiong
nice writen story....
nicolas_noir
Great shots! I've never quite got the zoom on these - the original with the wide angle f1.9 lens sounds super lush, but otherwise not being able to turn the flash off indoors with slow film seems a bit of a let down really.
On the subject of date stamps being super Japanese, I've got a Ricoh R10 which is so super Japanese and has the most amazing date stamp - you can stamp things like "Happy days (^-^)" "FRIENDS FOREVER" and, of course, "WORLD PEACE" - I love it :-)
markfappleton
superlighter
haha! funny story! and great shots!
jwebcrafter
fash_on
so funny :D love how you became so Japanese with your hair growing outwards!!
ipdegirl
hilarious!! great story! It fuels the fire of my wanting that camera even more......
kylewis
I love this blog it's so full of self depracating humour... you are english! as for the camera I also have one and found your comments so true, it is pointless and to be honest I haven't had a good shot out of it and I have used the right film as well, one can only laugh and return to the trusty LCA!! but the whirr of the zoom and the flick of the flash really makes you think you have something there ; 0)
takuji
haha.I bet you will order "raw" fish & chips pretty soon :P
golfpunkgirl
ishi wishy dishy sayang!
freefall21km
adamscott
Half Japanese my arse - try 1/4
realmustache
great narrative. love the photos
porkchopsandy
Nicely written Mark! You rock!!!
paramir
well written! :) I must say I love the results you got with this useless, indispensable camera...
lindascott
panchoballard
Great article, very funny!
aebarabea