Many of my photographs over the last few years have been small series attempting to tell stories, or document older places and the people connected to them. Such opportunities, however, don’t present themselves all the time, and some walks are mainly filled with ordinary, everyday life, meaning they are mostly quiet and relatively uneventful.
The photos here are from one such walk last week. No moments or scenes really stood out, or in some way felt exceptional, and yet as is always the case, the long meander was an enjoyable one. It was also no less meaningful in its own way, and to use a probably overused word, it was also fairly mindful. The perfect way, for me at least, to be fully present and in the moment — simply taking everything in and occasionally photographing whatever presented itself. All done with no expectations or particular aim. An approach that in the end arguably did have a theme, if not exactly a story. One of the strangely appealing ordinariness of daily sights and scenery.
Denise says
I love the surprise octopus!! 🙂
Lee says
Haha, yes, couldn’t resist putting that in!
cdilla says
You have the knack of making the ordinary look extraordinary.
The second and fourth ones down are examples of photographs of Japan that conjure up an alternative world where the inhabitants are animated vending machines that roam around looking for sedentary humans to feed. I must have a word with Terry Gilliam about visualizing that.
Love the art on the Game store wall. Maybe inspired by Ron Campbell, another genius animator.
Lee says
Thanks a lot, that’s very kind.
That would be truly terrifying considering how many vending machines there are in Tokyo. And yeah, that game centre art is wonderful. Always been intrigued by it.
Sophie says
I love the first photo! This building makes me think of Howl’s Moving Castle. It seems ready to crumble… or walk away.
Lee says
Thank you. Yeah, that house is amazing, isn’t it? Always expect to turn the corner and find it has been demolished, but thankfully it is somehow still going strong.
Richard says
The octopus is great! And there are always vending machines, right?
Lee says
Quite the spectacle, isn’t it? And yeah, there really are. Even convenience stores everywhere can’t dent the demand for vending machines.
Richard says
Whenever my family travels to Japan, they LOVE the vending machines. Also the onigiri at the conbeni. My daughter, in particular, makes an effort to try each and every kind of onigiri she sees!
Lee says
There seems to be a lot more variety of onigiri these days too. Always interesting to try some of the newer ones.