The weight of the world, 2018
The weight of the world. Tokyo, Japan December 2018
Fujifilm X-T10 | 56mm | ƒ/3.6
I was in Tokyo, having just made a crazy trip from Rishikesh, India, to Jakarta, to Tokyo, to work as a producer on a freelance project for SK-II, the Japanese skin care brand. We had a few hours to kill, and as the famed Tokyo Crossing was about a 20 min walk from from our location, I headed there.
I love Tokyo. It by far my most favored city in the world. And when there I love to walk. Once I arrived at the crossing, I passed by one of those public smoking boxes that the city has, so that people can smoke, but in a contained space, complete with powered air-clearers, long rows of ashtrays, and attendants who maintain the space. It’s what one would expect in that city.
The Smoking Man, as I now affectionately call him, was standing there, alone, framed by the others in the box. Sad, reflective, so much emotion in his pose, and his slow movements as he stood there, one hand in his suit pocket, the other moving vertically, raising his cigarette to his mouth, then lowering it to his chest, over and over, as if guided by a metronome.
The weather was of course chilly, Tokyo winters are cold. and the other in the smoking box were outfitted with puffy jackets, overcoats, except for the Salarymen, clad in their armor of dark suits and ties. The Smoking Man stood almost as if he was waiting for me to take the photograph. I wasn’t too far from him, as I was shooting with a 56mm lens, and was now inside the box. I snapped the photo, and walked away, as I felt I was interrupting his time alone, surrounded by others, also alone, smoking, in the box, in Tokyo.
In post, when I had returned to Singapore, I took the photo into black and white. While the color capture was really just that, a capture of a moment in life, the black and white version exposed his soul, his emotions, his… is it sadness… I am still not sure. Maybe he was just tired. Maybe it was a great day, and he holds it in. I will never know.
But for me, this is the beauty of black and white. I don’t need to know. But I can feel it. And that is exactly why I love to make images.