Travelling back and forth between Tokyo and Kamakura, photographer Shin Noguchi seeks out the extraordinary in the everyday. “I want to share these beautiful moments with other people,” he says.
With camera in hand, photographer Shin Noguchi navigates through Japan’s bustling cities while observing others who are simply going about their everyday lives. Through patience, careful framing, and a click of the shutter, he creates photographs that app
With camera in hand, photographer Shin Noguchi navigates through Japan’s bustling cities while observing others who are simply going about their everyday lives. Through patience, careful framing, and a click of the shutter, he creates photographs that appear more like constructed scenes—compositions within chaos. His subjects feel fully integrated, yet strangely detached from their surroundings. They are performing tasks that perhaps they themselves will forget instantaneously. They are caught in moments of pause and action. They are unaware of being examined and that significance is being given to their menial activities. Through his images, Shin is reminding us of the understated richness of the quotidian, and that complexity can be arranged by simply waiting to see.
“Everyone lives their lives desperately. Sometimes alone, sometimes with the help of others, sometimes crying, laughing… I photograph daily life for its singular beauty. I want people to enjoy these extraordinary moments that exist in our daily, ordinary lives. I’m here, only here. You’re here, only here. Don’t try too hard. Do your best. You are so beautiful. Your life is so precious.”
Shin Noguchi is a freelance graphic designer and street photographer based in Kamakura and Tokyo, Japan. He describes his street photography as an attempt to capture extraordinary moments of excitement, beauty and humanism among the flow of everyday life and has an approach that is sensitive to the subtleties and complexities of Japanese culture. He is also a member of the Street Photographers collective. Eric Kim, a contributor to the Leica blog, conducted this interview.
