New Cosmos of Photography 2006 Tokyo Exhibition
Report on the open-selection meeting
Public selection : Dec.1.2006(FRI)
A meeting, which was open to the public, of the selection committee that decides the Grand Prize winner of New Cosmos of Photography 2006 (the 29th competition) was held at a hall located on the first floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography on December 1, 2006. Kozue Takagi was chosen as the year’s Grand Prize winner from among six finalists including one group entrant : Mika Kitamura+Yuki Watanabe, Asako Shimizu, Kozue Takagi, Palla, Yoshinori Henguchi, and Izumi Yamada.
Overall Evaluation
At the 2006 Tokyo Exhibition open-selection meeting of “New Cosmos of Photography”, the winning works of the 2006 (29th competition) were evaluated.
Overview of 2006 (29th competition)
Nobuyoshi Araki
Along with the fact that a lot of photographs this year were taken with digital cameras, I felt that the entries included a lot of photographs touched by a digital attitude. Photographs with that tendency were especially evident this year. What I mean is that with digital camera the photographer can do a lot of adjusting and processing after taking a shot, and this causes many photographers to think that they can just snap a picture and then fiddle around with it later, adjust the color if necessary and more. So what happens is that people often take a lot of pictures with such attitude. But this is not acceptable - it’s very easy to spot this sort of poorly prepared, thrown together work. Fundamentally, a photograph is limited to a specific time and place, it as an encounter with a single brief moment in time. So this time, I made a firm decision to avoid work that had this thrown together “digital plague.”
Photos relying on finesse and technique for expression were very evident as well. But working from this approach is a big mistake. A photograph is an expression of the subject. What the photographer needs to do is look straight at the subject and snap the picture. This principle applies whether the camera is digital or film - either way, your visual instincts naturally tell you what to shoot. In this regard, I felt that women were better at facing their subject head on and taking a photograph. Not so with men, who seem to shoot mostly scenes. But photography means delving into human nature, expressing the senses. A photographer must never forget that.
Kotaro Iizawa
I have some advice for people to consider when they make a submission. There are many entrants who need to be much more selective when choosing photographs for a piece. Quite often a single work consisted of a great number of photos as if that was enough for it to receive favor from the judges. However in this case, the most people just cannot select photographs in an optimal way. There is no limit no number of course, but that doesn’t mean a person should just willy-nilly increase the number included in a work. Each work has that certain number of photographs that naturally, inevitably fits, and I want entrants to make sure they know what that is before submitting their piece.
Like the Soccer World Cup, going forward the field of photography is going to assume some kind of “global standard.” So from the global perspective point of view, how many entries can we say are worthy of global praise? I’m afraid the number this year was rather disappointing. Now, I’m not saying that entries should resemble Western photography - I want to see work showing a uniquely Japanese form of expression.
Observing the entries it becomes clear that the standards for presenting a work - book binding, print quality, size selection, and so on - have improved. The pieces also have more variety than before. Given this competition, it’s probably hard to make your own talents stand out, but the entrant has no alternative but to try and overcome that.
I ended up selecting a lot of simple, light pieces this time. Rather than pieces with strong visual impact, I went for sensitive, carefully constructed pieces. And who knows, perhaps this sort of subtly composed photograph might be Japanese photographic expression the world standard.
Fumio Nanjo
This year we received a large number of entries with images manipulated using digital technology, as well as entries with part or the entire frame altered. It is clear that new technology has brought forth a brand new approach. So the question arises: how should New Cosmos of Photography interpret and evaluate work based on this new trend? And this is a question that we as judges are obligated to ponder as well.
On the other hand, the power of photos using older idioms caught my attention as well. And, naturally, I want to continue recognizing the artistic value of conventional photographs with their photographic-esque color and delicate lines. Thus we now have technology driven “art pieces” and “photography-like photos” to consider. Still, it is not a question of deciding which approach has greater artistic value rather photographers should select those works that are in accord with their own style.
Entries consisting of a lot of photographs are growing in number, and many of these entries include quite a few excellent photographs. But no matter how many excellent photos an entry may contain, its impact is diminished if the work as a whole fails to communicate a certain theme. If we consider an entry as something conveying a specific message, then the artist needs to clearly define what that message is and direct his or her photography toward bringing it out. I want artists to be aware of this point as they go about creating their work.
Daido Moriyama
Overall, there were a lot of excellent entries. As expected, the quality gets better every year. Now, if I were to say how the quality has improved, rather the pictures themselves I’d say it’s the presentation. Techniques for presenting one’s work are really making progress. Photographs that look like typical everyday snapshots are sometimes presented in book form in a manner that is obviously very well thought out and put together. Entries that look like they were just thrown together are clearly fewer than in the past. But this development is both good and bad. Once an artist figures out the presentation they want, there’’s a tendency to follow that too much. I felt that in some of the pieces.
While the quality of entries has unquestionably improved in general, regrettably very few really stood above the rest. I really didn’t see any stand out pieces, anything with real impact. Given that any theme and approach is permitted, I like to see artists go all out. I ultimately look for how much passion an artist has put into their work, for how effectively they give their passion form. That quality is crucial. Now, I usually end up measuring the intensity of passion by focusing on entries with a lot of photographs. But the truth is, I always wonder if I’ll come across a piece consisting of just one photograph that completely floors me.
Boris Mikhailov
Since I didn’t know what kind of work awaited me, on the way to the judging site I worried over whether I would be good at discovering those pieces worthy of selection. But my anxiety was unfounded. Besides the Excellence Award and Honorable Mentions winners there were a number of other fine entries. In fact, narrowing down the number of entries that I liked was a very tough process.
I didn’t select too many entries using classic motifs and techniques. I deliberately tried to select works that felt new, whose focus deviated somewhat from photography of the past. Unfortunately, I am unable to discern the subtle nuances that a Japanese viewer most likely notices. I deeply regret that there were probably things that I escaped my notice.
Still, there were many works that were to my eyes extremely Japanese in character. If I were to say in what way this is so, I would first mention those photographs that seemed to share an intimate story with the viewer. Also, the way some entries skillfully combine a variety of techniques. I saw many examples where the artist skillfully combined a traditional Japanese form with the artist’s own artistic elements in just the right way.
Katsuhiko Hibino
felt that I was seeing a lot of entries of elderly and sick people, and theme on nursing. Then I found out that one piece based on such a motif had won an Excellence Award a few years ago. It is undeniable that entries following fashion will inevitably make their appearance in a competition of this sort for such work can never arise above mere imitation.
The crucial point is whether an artist succeeds in conveying his or her message through photographs. The power of photography is its ability to dissect reality. Taking a part of reality and photographing it in a way that says “this is how I see it” and on this mind, photographers redefine that thing. This is an aspect of photography that the moving image does not have. I am captivated by pieces that capture this aspect well. And in general, I think that unassuming snapshots of day to day things tend to be more effective at communicating their message.
A lot of entries were presented in book form. But I would like artists to carefully reflect on the significance of presenting their work in this way. A book involves the act of turning a page, the presence of a photograph on the opposite page. How a book format adds impact to work must be carefully thought. The work I selected for an Excellence Award had a very carefully selected file and used the book format very effectively.
