Seen: 路上 VII / On The Street 7

Who: 淵上裕太  Yuta Fuchikami / website / instagram

Where: Totem Pole Photo Gallery, Shinjuku

When: August 4 - 16, 2020   /  12:00 - 7:00pm (closed Mondays)

I always look forward to Fuchikami’s shows- entry/exhibition number 7 in his “On The Street” series focuses on Tokyo’s Ueno Park and the inhabitants that he shares a moment with. Fuchikami’s got that subtle kind of unobtrusive, guileless personality that instantly endears him to strangers. I’ve watched him work- it’s fascinating. He just… does it. Situations- and people- just work out for him. I don’t mean simply his ability to get consent- I’m talking about how the subjects themselves wander into his world and lens.  I can’t quite figure out what this phenomenon is exactly but his pictures suggest it better than any words I try to write. 

Certainly his big, clunky Pentax 67 helps- it’s a camera immediately recognized as an anachronism to the average person and therefore non-threatening.  His approach and methods are simple and consistent- only shooting with a 105mm lens- handheld, no less- with Kodak Tmax 400 for black and white or Kodak Portra or (this show) Fuji Pro 400H for color. A talented darkroom printer, his exhibition is comprised of c-prints- even the “panorama” taped along the lower part of the gallery wall. 

The quality of Fuchikami’s work puts it alongside  the best of Tokyo’s rich culture of street portraiture. I think he’s as good as any of his predecessors or peers and hope that one day a thick, proper photobook of these pictures is published.