Canon global

I want to express my love for my subjects

-Ms. Kuroda, do you take photographs of your lovers?

It's not exactly like that. They are photographs of people I've had sex with. At first, I had to do something for my summer assignment, so I took some pictures of a classmate who I'd met when I started university that I was sort of half-living with. After that, I took some semi-nude pictures of two guys I'd gone from being friends with to being with in a more "man and woman" kind of way, and when I presented my photos, the people who saw them really praised me. That's how I started to think that there is some meaning to taking pictures of sexual partners. The emotion that comes from having been together shows up in the photograph.

Also, by having sex, you feel as though you've gotten quite close to the person, that somehow you understand them. Thanks to that feeling it's possible to take pictures more freely. I want to hang on to that feeling.

-Could you tell me more about your relationships with these men?

Someone once said, "The camera is the only tool that can stop time." The first time I heard that, I don't remember exactly when it was, but I thought, "It's like magic." I'm most happy when my skin is next to the skin of someone I love, and I keep taking photographs, trying to stop that time.

When you have sex with someone, you begin to understand the person very well. When I know my partner likes me, I naturally begin to be able to take pictures without feeling nervous. I feel a desire to have love towards my subjects. As I continued to take pictures, I wanted to love everything about photography, even processes like developing and printing. When your subject is someone you like, everything you do becomes fun and lovely. There are tens of thousands of people in the world who are able to live positively no matter what happens. I too want to live while finding love in the things around me, and I want to continue loving both photography and my photographic subjects.

Putting feeling into photographs that stop time

-What kind of person is the one you shot for this series?

I liked him for nearly two years. I submitted pictures of him several times for school assignments, and people told me, "These are really good so you should take more." I really liked him, so I kept taking his picture. In the end, he got a full-time job and our relationship ended. This picture was taken the morning after he'd cancelled his apartment contract and spent one last night in my room. Then he was gone and I took some pictures of the apartment and made a story, crying as I got the pictures together.

-Did the camera get in the way of the quality of your relationship?

I never once felt that the camera got in the way. After all, I was the one taking the pictures. I'm living with my current boyfriend now though, and I take about one picture per day. I don't take pictures thinking I'll use them for a piece, I just take pictures because I want to. I chose shots to print out from a massive amount of cuts, and then I reduced those down to about one fourth the amount, which I used for my piece.

-What do you look for when you're choosing your shots?

A photograph is a still image, and there is no movement or sound, but there is a lot of information crammed in there. In a single frame, time is stopped. It's hard to introduce feelings and movements into that, but I think it's very interesting. By lining up the pieces and creating a whole, it's interesting how movement starts to emerge and a story is born. I try hardest to make it into a story that can be easily spotted.

The reason why I included both contact sheets and portraits this time was because I wanted to show the movement of my eye and how I was so infatuated with this person that I was taking multiple pictures at once. Now most people use digital cameras, and that's alright, but I don't like how easy it is to erase the images.

-What are you planning on doing from now on?

I'll graduate this year, but I'm thinking of going on to grad school. It's an environment where I can maintain a high level of motivation, and there are people who will teach me and friends I can share inspiration with. I haven't decided exactly what I'll do once I finish grad school, but I like taking pictures of people, so I'd like it if I could get a job where I can do that. Right now I'm taking pictures of my older and younger brothers. Men who I don't, can't, make love with. But they are men who I feel very close to nonetheless. My goal is to take deeply loving photos despite this difference.

-How do you feel about winning the Grand Prize?

Of course I'm very happy that I won the grand prize, but I'm talking with my friends who have won awards that we should think of the New Cosmos of Photography prize not as a goal but as a stop on the journey. Among those people are some who have won not the grand prize but the excellence awards or honorable mentions and are now working as photographers. The winning of a prize was a turning point for them. I think it's a starting point.