HOHO Smile EVENTS was launched by KIGI's Ryosuke Uehara and Yoshie Watanabe, THROW A KISS brand designer Musubi Aoki, and FASHION HEADLINE. The third HOHO will be held on October 2nd and will feature an "iPhone Photography Workshop." We spoke with hosts and creative director Ryosuke Uehara and photographer Takehide Niitsubo about the event, photography, and creative endeavors. ■Taking Photos is "Observation" --The theme for the next HOHO is "Photos Taken with an iPhone." Why did you choose this theme? Ryosuke Uehara (hereafter, Uehara): Taking photos with a smartphone is something everyone does these days, but it's surprisingly difficult to get good results. I think it's simply a matter of composition, editing, and other bits of knowledge, and I hope to share that knowledge with you. Actually, one reason is that (Aoki) Musubi, who I'm working with on the HOHO Project, said to me, "I want to know!" (laughs).

--It's true that these days anyone can easily edit photos with their smartphone and take photos of a certain level of quality, but I think there's definitely a line between that and professional creators.

Uehara: For example, Instagram makes things look good with just the push of a button. But I don't really like that feel. When I think about why, I think it's because everyone ends up looking the same and uniform. Because it's not something that has been intentionally transformed.



Takehide Niitsubo (hereinafter, Niitsubo): When I look at Uehara's photos on social media, not only are they each good, but I can also trace the traces of the thoughts he has accumulated in his daily life, which doesn't seem like he just takes vague photos of "what feels good right now." It's as if the images are a collection of ongoing thoughts that form a unique archive. It's very interesting to compare the ideas I have gleaned from Uehara's work with the photos he has uploaded.



Uehara: It's true that when I look at Niitsubo's Instagram or Facebook, there are sometimes photos that an amateur wouldn't recognize. I think it's interesting to see them in conjunction with Niitsubo's previous work.

--What is your position on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook?

Nitsubo: For work, I often shoot for an unspecified number of people, so for now when I shoot on social media I imagine I'm shooting for specific friends. When Dominic Chen and his team developed "Picsee," an app that lets you share photos and videos simply by taking them, it was still in the development stage. I was one of the test users, and I formed a group of three people with him and a mutual friend and conducted a long-term experiment spanning several years. After experiencing communication solely through images, my perspective on images conveyed through images changed dramatically, and I began to pay close attention to the photos of my friends on Facebook. I then realized that Uehara's photos were well-selected.

Uehara: It's because Shintsubo taught me how to use a camera. In fact, I often take photos using a digital camera in manual mode. With a smartphone, the angle is extremely wide, isn't it? I wonder why I get so excited (laughs). When looking at an object, you often just look at the object itself. With manual mode, you know exactly where to focus, so you can express how you want to photograph it. I say that taking photos with a smartphone is boring because everything is in focus, but I still hold smartphone photography workshops (laughs).

Niitsubo: This was when we were photographing flower vases together. I think that the approach you take when directing creative work or taking photographs is heavily influenced by the careful observation of your subject, which you developed through the sketching you did in your teens and twenties. Whether it's a sketch or a photograph, the process of carefully observing your subject, replacing it with something, and then observing it again often leads to moments when you become conscious of what you're looking at and discover something you hadn't noticed before.

Uehara: Also, how you perceive the coincidences and changing things at the time.

Niitsubo: It's important to be open to what's happening in the moment.

Uehara: Along with that, in this workshop, I'd like to share my thoughts on photography while sharing my own methods of expression using photo editing apps.

Niitsubo: I'd like to share the basics of using color in photography.
Photo editing apps have a fairly wide range of detailed parameters, but it would be best to use them as simply as possible without getting overwhelmed by them.



■Connecting two people? The World of Dots

-- In a previous conversation with Dominique Chen, you said that your encounter with a French artist in your twenties who created paintings using pixel art from early Game Boy games was what prompted you to consider the relationship between images and media. Uehara has also exhibited works using stickers ("Implosion←→Explosion"). I imagined that perhaps the keyword connecting the two of you was "dots."

Shintsubo: That's true, we may have talked about that (laughs). My friend had been consciously using the internet as a creative method since the very early days of the internet, and seeing this made me think that the way we share images would change dramatically in the future.

Uehara: My work "Implosion←→Explosion" is inspired by the idea that when you look at a photograph at the microscopic level, it becomes a single dot. The microscopic structure of electrons orbiting atoms and the macroscopic structure of planets orbiting the sun are the same, so the microscopic and the macroscopic are the same. So, I think humans definitely have the same structure, and if that's the case, then why am I living my life so driven by desire, even though the micro and macro are so orderly? My life's theme is "gathering and diffusion."

--So, if you're the sun, what revolves around you?

Uehara: It's the people to whom I give my love. I think the sun is love. You know, the flames that erupt when energy accumulates in a magnetic field? I think that's what gives love to the planets around it. Humans can't give love to others unless they have the same kind of energy packed into them. That's why I think it's important to have the desire to grow and be happy. But it doesn't have to be 100%. Just 80% or something (laughs).

Nitsubo: Now that's getting interesting (laughs). I feel like I've gotten a glimpse of part of the reason why Uehara's work is so popular. I see, love.

--I feel like we were able to hear everything from photography to the essence of creation. I'm sure some unexpected stories will pop up in the workshop too. I'm looking forward to it! Thank you.


【Profile】
Ryosuke Uehara
Art director. Born in Hokkaido. After working at DRAFT, he founded KIGI.Co.Ltd. with Watanabe Yoshie in 2012. He works on graphics, products, brand design, video, etc. In 2014, he launched the product brand KIKOF with artisans from Shiga, and in 2015 opened the original shop and gallery OUR FAVOURITE SHOP (Shirogane, Tokyo). He also continues to explore new forms of creation, producing works and exhibiting them in museums and other venues. His collection of works, "KIGI_M," has been published by Little More. Incidentally, his favorite camera is the α7R (Sony) with Leica lenses, which he learned about from Shintsubo.
http://ki-gi.com/


Shintsubo Kenshu
Born in Tokyo in 1968. Photographer.
In addition to creating works using photography, field recordings, drawings, etc.,
he has collaborated on numerous projects with companies, musicians, researchers, fashion brands, and designers. His major collections of works include "\Fukei" (Kadokawa Shoten) and "Rugged TimeScape" (collaboration with Ikegami Takashi, FOIL), and related publications include "Complex Topographical Gardens" (Tokyo University of the Arts), "MTMDF" (HAKUHODO DESIGN), and "The Present of Architecture and Photography" (TN Probe). He is also a good dad who regularly takes photos of his beloved daughter with his smartphone.
http://www.kenshu-shintsubo.com/


【Event Information】
※Registration is now closed as we have reached capacity※
Sunday, October 2nd, 2016 Registration starts at 1:45pm, event starts at 2:00pm-4:00pm
#003 "iPhone Photography Workshop"
HOST: Uehara Ryosuke, Shintsubo Kenhide
Venue: H.P.DECO
5-2-11 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001
Capacity: 10 people
※If there are a large number of applicants, we will hold a lottery. We appreciate your understanding.
Participation fee: 3,500 yen
Conditions for participation: Users must have an iPhone with iOS 8.0 or later with "Snapseed (version 2.9)" downloaded
The App Store link for "Snapseed (version 2.9)" is here
>https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/snapseed/id439438619?mt=8
>
Applications open: Sunday, September 11th
How to apply: Send an email to hpdeco_contact@hpgrp.com (Kitahama).
Please write "October 2nd HOHO#003 Reservation" in the subject line,
and fill in 1) your name and 2) phone number in the body of the email.
We will send you a reservation confirmation email at a later date.