TRACK 50 "Youth Chapter - Photography Class"
"Photography is the only invention of mankind that can capture time."
That is what the teacher said in our very first photography class.
Back then, I didn't quite understand the meaning of those words yet.
But for some reason, they stayed with me.
I thought, how romantic photography is.
—
The spring of my sophomore year in college.
I chose a photography class.
At the art university, there were many students who always carried cameras with them.
When they found a scene that caught their eye, they would stop casually, hold up their SLR, and press the shutter.
That sight looked so cool to me.
—
At that time, the photography of Hiromix and Takashi Homma was popular.
Starting with STUDIO VOICE, I saw their photos in various magazines.
Casual everyday life.
Familiar streets.
The profile of a friend.
Photos that seemed to capture such moments along with the very air itself.
I liked Takashi Homma's photos, which were detached yet somehow left a lasting impression on my heart.
And the fact that Hiromix became a photographer with a small Konica Big Mini was also fresh to me.
Photography isn't about the price or size of the camera, but about what you are looking at.
I felt like I had been taught that.
—
What I was using was a Canon SLR camera that my father owned.
The cold touch of the metal.
The solid weight.
Just by hanging it around my neck, I felt like I had become a little more of an adult.
I press the shutter.
"Click."
I loved that sound.
—
Back then, it was still an era where film was the norm.
The shutter clicks.
But the photo is not yet visible.
Until the development is finished, no one knows what has been captured.
Even that waiting time was part of photography.
Thinking about it now, what a luxurious time that was.
For every single shot, there was a feeling of praying just a little bit.
—
In class, I also challenged myself with black-and-white photography.
Just by losing the color, familiar scenery looked like a scene from a movie.
"I've gotten better at photography."
I was a little happy to harbor such a delusion.
—
I also liked working in the darkroom.
The teacher would laugh and say things like this:
"The red light in the darkroom makes girls look attractive, so couples are formed here every year."
Everyone in the classroom laughed.
—
A darkroom lit only by a red safelight.
I submerge the photographic paper into the developer.
On the paper that was pure white, the scenery gradually emerges.
Slowly.
Slowly.
It was like magic.
The profile of the girl working next to me, illuminated by the red light, also looked a little different than usual.
I thought the teacher's words might be true.
—
From then on, I started carrying my SLR everywhere.
While walking through the city.
While laughing with friends.
While finding casual scenery.
I press the shutter.
Click.
Click.
Along with that sound, my days of youth quietly piled up, one by one.
—
Back then, I was just pressing the shutter in a daze.
But now, more than twenty years later, those photos have brought the youth I had forgotten back to me once again.
Friends.
Works.
Lovers.
The smiles of that day.
The time I thought I could never return to was breathing all along inside a single photograph.
The teacher's words were true.
Photography was the only invention of mankind that could capture time.
And before I knew it, photography had become something precious to my life.
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