Durch einen Artikel von meines Kollegen Tobias Gawrisch von Xplor Creativity bin ich auf Bored Panda aufmerksam geworden und habe dort einen kleinen Artikel verfasst, der sich mit meiner Reise nach Japan beschäftigt. Um diesen Artikel und meine veröffentlichten Fotos noch populärer zu machen, waren eine Menge positiver Bewertungen notwendig, denn ab einer bestimmten Stimmzahl wird der Artikel in weitere Kategorien geladen um meine Fotos einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Innerhalb weniger Tage wurde der Artikel samt Portfolio ca. 15.000 Mal angeklickt, was einen riesen Erfolg darstellt. Danke an alle, die meinen Kurzbericht positiv bewertetet haben.

I Spent Three Weeks Photographing Japan’s Spirituality And Modernism

I have wanted to take photos of Japan ever since I became a travel photographer more than 10 years ago. Finally, in 2016 I had the opportunity visit this mysterious country. I didn´t know what to expect but I was very excited and knew that great photo-spots were waiting. Before I travelled to Japan I tried to find the spots I wanted to shoot and started browsing the internet to find visually interesting places. By the time I was ready for the trip I had selected almost 200 spots on my map and I knew I wouldn’t be able to shoot them all.

From the beginning I was fascinated by the contrast between perfectionism and connection to the natural environment. Japan’s most common religions, Shintoism and Buddhism, are alive in every corner of the country. Regardless of the seclusion, I found shrines and torii, the traditional Japanese gates, in the middle of the ocean, on the highest mountains and in the darkest forests. A torii symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. As a photographer I like to create clear, minimalistic photos in black and white, but in Japan I started using my color skills to intensify the strong contrasts of Japanese culture. Most of the time I was working with different neutral density filters to enhance the effect of minimalism in my works. The longer I am able to expose my photos, the clearer the photos become due to of the loss of structure in the water and sky. After three weeks of exploring Japan I knew that I wanted to return as soon as possible. A lot of fascinating places are still waiting for me though I drove more than 6.000 kilometers in that short time. Japan, we will meet again!