At this museum located on Suo-Oshima in Yamaguchi Prefecture, which is also the birthplace of Tsuneichi Miyamoto, a Japanese anthropologist, visitors can browse through a large archive of his photographs. These files fill the bookshelves, and it would take more than a day to go through every single photograph. It was a luxury to be able to time travel back into time while looking at this collection of countless photographs.
Different to photographers who try to select a single best shot or a piece of photography work from a large pile of photos, it feels like that there is no specific destination shown in photographs of an anthropologist. However, the lifestyle of the people that are revealed through his gaze is extremely beautiful. It depends on the viewer to draw the line between what is considered to be a form of “expression”.
Miyamoto used a half-size camera – Olympus (S and EE) to be specific. Half-size cameras are able to capture two vertical photographs in one full frame using 35mm film, which results in 72 shots. It is extremely compact but at the same time it can handle a relatively large amount of photographs. I discovered that there are lots of photographs that were taken while he was traveling on a car or train when I looked at these photographs at the museum. The reason and meaning behind using a lightweight camera that can handle a large number of photographs is relatively similar to taking shorthand notes.
If we consider our relationship with Miyamoto’s Olympus-type recording and photography in the context of our modern world, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea to walk around with a compact digital camera all the time, but I actually feel that it is probably sufficient to take photographs with a smartphone. The reason behind this is because we always carry our smartphones even if we don’t make the effort to do so; we can save the photos chronologically on our own hard disk or instantly upload it online, and we can also simply take videos if it makes more sense to do so. Furthermore, we can upload the photos on personal blogs or other social media.
I had deliberately used my camera as a method of note taking during the journey to Ogasawara Islands in 2016. Even before the beginning of the journey, our members had used our own smartphones to record different situations using photographs or videos. Even if we tried to search for something online using our smartphones, we would take screenshots of what we searched for. It was very interesting to read these saved images lined up together and soon every group member adopted this method too. For example, someone would take a photograph from the ferry on the way to Ogasawara, and then go on to check the name of the island in the distance using the GPS function on our phones – that person would also take a screenshot of the map. It was interesting to see the record of images of another group member whom we travelled together with.
It might be more sensible to bring a larger camera with better quality and grip in the case if we take photographs during a fieldwork where we have to be conscious towards the expressive side of a photograph, and not only using photographs as a note. But if we want that kind of quick and snapshot feeling, there is probably no better tool than smartphones.
At the end of the fieldwork, we can easily copy and save the countless number of photographs, notes and screenshots onto a hard disk. Furthermore, like Miyamoto, who filed all his developed film and words and notes together, it is extremely helpful to not just have everything as an archive or editing the photographs and text as a form of output, but also seeing it as a chance to reflect on our own words and thoughts as an input in the end too.
