Tuesday, November 10, 2015

夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年 Hachioji Night Walkabout (Photographs) North Side

I've used Hachioji Station many times over the years, but I don't think I've ever just walked away from the station and explored the side streets, etc. - until November 2nd, 2015, when I took this batch of photos.
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
This was also a test of my Olympus C-2020Z camera - which is an updated version of the Olympus C-2000Z camera that I recently wrote about.  I stumbled upon these cameras sitting in "junk" boxes at used equipment stores a few weeks apart, and it's been a fun experience going back 16 and 15 years ago (1999 and 2000) technology-wise.
A typical way of going back is to use a film camera, but I simply can't afford to do that - film is now expensive, developing more so, and any photos I would need to digitize to use anyway, so what's the point really?  That said, as there are some creative things you can do with film that are more difficult with digital cameras, I would - money and time permitting - like to revisit film photography at some point.
This design - of a series of overhead walkways connecting different buildings and getting pedestrians up over the cars and trucks on the roads below - is quite nice.  It's a great experience being able to walk about without having to interact with oil-burning machinery.
Twilight is probably the best time of day in a city - you have a mix of the evening light and the multi-colored electric lights of stores, etc.  I remember being in the mountains a few years back one evening... and encountering a feeling of adventure and fear.  I looked up at the cloudy sky and realized I wouldn't have any assistance from the moon, and I was alone with no form of lighting, so I quickly headed back to an electric light zone.
It's one of those things - you think you want to escape the city and experience nature, but when you get there, you realize/remember some primal fear of the forest at night and are quite glad to get back to civilization.
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
Back to the experience of using an old digital camera.  The crucial thing here is that the 2020Z was a great camera when it was new, with a good (and fast) lens, and a (at the time) high resolution (two megapixel) image sensor.  Jumping forward fifteen years, its using standard AAA batteries means no special/expensive battery is needed, and the final element, a design negative, is a cost-performance positive - namely the memory card.
The memory card Olympus was using at the time was "SmartMedia", which is no longer manufactured and only available now as new-old stock or used.  This helps cost performance in that if the camera used a Compact Flash card, then it would sell for more now.  I was thinking that SD cards didn't exist until 2001 or so, but - looking it up - it says (Wikipedia article) that SD cards were marketed from 2000, so they had just come out.  (The lower cost of the camera due to the weird format flash memory card is offset by higher costs for hard-to-get memory cards however...)
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
Not to go on and on about the camera endlessly, but the experience I'm having with this camera is something I had never considered possible - a positive retro-photography experience with a digital camera.  I think this is probably about the time such experiences will start to be a normal thing - replacing stepping back to film.
So what makes it retro exactly?  I  had been thinking purely in terms of image sensor resolution, storage capacity, and read/write speed, but this camera records things quite differently than my more modern cameras.  Looking at the above photo, the effect is kind of like positive slide film, with a very high contrast.  Given one time, and one time only to record pictures of something, I would definitely use newer equipment, but for something I have access to on a regular basis (like Hachioji), this is a nice change from modern (often over-processed) digital photography.
And (still going on about the camera!) another huge factor I forgot to mention - the 2020Z is a rangefinder camera, so the experience of looking at the world optically (not via an electronic screen) is a step back in time for me that goes back to (obviously) film photography.
There's something about looking through the finder optically, taking a picture, and then checking the monitor for its one or two second display of the just-recorded image (the LCD is off otherwise - although it can also be used for taking pictures, like with new cameras) that reminds me of taking pictures with film, and then having to wait for the results.  (Waiting for a few seconds and waiting for a week or so are quite different, but still there's a parallel there.
OK, so I'll lay off talking about my personal nostalgia regarding using a 15-year-old digital camera, and just comment on the pictures now.  There are several pictures I want to comment on, but certainly not all, so I'll just put the Japanese title between pictures I don't comment on.  Scroll down for more comments.
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
Reaching a main road, the magic of a (mostly) car-free evening stroll changes into a complex combination of feelings.  There is still some trace of childlike excitement when coming upon something bigger, faster, noisier... but the desolation of all that asphalt depresses my adult soul.  No trees, danger of being hit, danger from breathing the noxious exhaust fumes of internal combustion engines, the noise, etc.
(Above) While the high contrast of these old-technology photos can be pretty excessive, nighttime really is nighttime.  Some modern cameras so effectively make sure that every part of the picture is visible that they take the night out of nighttime....
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
Maybe I should take this opportunity to say something about tilted pictures.  I tilt pictures like this from time-to-time, but never randomly.  When I do this, it's because this is the composition I like.
(Below) Partly this dramatic scene-from-a-dream (or maybe nightmare) effect is a result of the way my camera records night scenes, but this side street really did have this kind of atmosphere, so it's less that the camera created the feeling this photo generates than it recorded it.
Looking at the picture above and the picture below, I'm struck with the double-desolation of the lower picture.  I think empty city parking lots like this are nearly a dictionary definition of "desolation".  In contrast to this, while there is an element of desolation in the upper picture, a much more powerful element of the scene is "mystery".
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
(Above) The time-slip house after the time machine left (see "Time Machine Landing (NPS)" elsewhere for image of the time machine).
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
I'm beginning to think that around 100 pictures is a practical number of images to take when it comes to photographing something and then actually using the pictures.  If you take many less than that, you've probably not covered your subject very well, and if you take more, you end up with a logistical problem, as even 100 pictures takes some time to go through.  If you take, for example, 2,000 pictures, it becomes impractical and the pictures end up just sitting in storage, while the photographer dreams of having time to actually do something with them.
(Above) - Ah... look at that!  It was nighttime and it *looks* like nighttime in this picture!  (Checking the larger version, I see that this picture looks best in the smaller size.  It was a long-exposure hand-held picture, so there's some motion blur that's detectable in the larger view.)
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
(Above) There used to be small shops like this all over Tokyo on shotengai shopping streets, but as large discount stores have been taking over retail, you see fewer and fewer small shops.  It's a shame, because small shops like this add a lot of character and atmosphere to an area, as well as improve public safety due to their presence and involvement in the local community.
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
These atmospheric streets are possible due to very little vehicular traffic in the area.  Any large city is so much nicer without large roads with cars and trucks everywhere....
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年
Looking at these scenes again via these pictures I took, I remember how I felt standing on these streets.  At the time, I kept thinking "I didn't realize how interesting Hachioji is..."  Looking it up on the map, I find myself saying "I didn't realize how Big Hachioji is!".
Contrast - not enough of it with my newer camera and a bit too much of it with this camera (depending on the scenes being recorded in both cases of course).
夜の八王子駅辺り散策散歩(写真)東町と小門町 - 2015年

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
http://youtube.com/lylehsaxon
http://lylehsaxon.blogspot.jp/
http://lookback1997.blogspot.jp/
http://tokyoht.blogspot.jp/

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