EXORCISM 07

ULTRAsomething Magazine | EXORCISM 07 is now available to purchase on the ULTRAsomething store! A mere smattering of its 72 pages illustrates this article.

Apologia

Somewhere between half and two-thirds of the way through shooting photos for Exorcism 07, I made my first post-pandemic trip back to Tokyo. “Wouldn’t it be nice,” I thought, “if I returned with enough photos to complete the issue?” Mission accomplished — and then some.

Upon finally developing, scanning, and processing all the film it became clear — not only had I enough photos to complete the magazine, but I had enough to dedicate an entire issue to the trip. The question was: should I?

The idea behind each Exorcism is that it represents my thoughts and tendencies during the previous few months. Committing an entire Exorcism to a mere nine-night window felt like a denial of the three months spent shooting before then. But if my prevailing thought is to create an issue dedicated entirely to Tokyo, and if the goal of the magazine is to represent my current thinking, the answer becomes: why shouldn’t I?

So all those Vancouver shots I tossed in the pool, both before and after Tokyo, will just have to tread water until Exorcism 08. Because Exorcism 07 is, indeed, devoted entirely to nine November nights in Tokyo.

Particulars

One of the advantages of having made so many trips to Tokyo is that I now photograph the city more like ‘myself’ and less like a ‘tourist.’ This is particularly true at night, which is when Tokyo truly becomes ‘mine’ and the photos seem to enter the camera without any conscious effort on my part.

My love for Tokyo, coupled with whatever freaky sort of spiritual connection I have with the place, makes this easily the most sentimental exorcism so far. It’s also the most gear-economical issue ever, with the entire magazine spewing forth from a mere four cameras. The vast majority came from an Olympus OM-3Ti and the Fuji Natura Black 1.9, though a pair of shots from the Fujifilm Rensha Cardia BYU-N 16 golf camera and two bona fide digital photos (from the Ricoh GRIII) found their way into the pages, though neither are included with this article.

As luck would have it, Akio Nagasawa Gallery in Aoyama was exhibiting the release of Daido Moriyama’s Record No. 58, and all past issues were available for sale. Seeing as how Record was the inspiration for my Exorcisms, it was truly humbling to come face-to-face with the demonstrable evidence of just how far behind I am. Not only is Moriyama fifty-one issues ahead of me, but I haven’t yet had a single gallery showing for a single Exorcism. I’m now accepting emails from any gallery owners wishing to rectify this obvious oversight.

I also visited Akio Nagasawa Gallery in Ginza, and took a photo of the stairwell leading up to it — only to realize some time later that I’d seen this same stairwell in Moriyama’s Record No. 50 — albeit mine was taken sans female model. My image, though not included with this article, is available in Exorcism 07 for those wishing to contrast and compare with Moriyama.

Exorcism 07 is now for sale in the ULTRAsomething STORE.

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