PhotoNews

Canon will offer a hardware modification of the Mode Dial on the EOS 7D and EOS 5D Mark II. From Dec. 8, 2010 in Japan, you can have the Mode Dial replaced with a locking Mode Dial that has a button at the dial’s center to lock the Mode Dial’s setting. Whenever you turn the Mode Dial, you have to first press the button at the center of the dial. The locking Mode Dial is similar to the one found on the EOS 60D.

The cost will be 10,500 yen and you can have it done at any of Canon’s Service Centers in Japan. The modification will take about 10 days in Japan and there is no warranty on the locking Mode Dial. You will have to bear the cost of shipping or taking the camera to a Canon Service Center.

Payment for this modification is required even if the camera still has a valid warranty.

I have the 7D and from my experience, I haven’t had problems with the Mode Dial turning inadvertently. Significant force would be required to turn the dial by accident, but it is possible. This modification may offer peace of mind, but for me, it would be an extra step to turn the dial.

Official Canon announcement in Japanese:
http://cweb.canon.jp/e-support/products/eos-d/eosd-modedial.html

Yodobashi Camera has finally come to Kyoto with a megastore in front of Kyoto Station right behind Kyoto Tower. It opened on Nov. 5, 2010.

Called Kyoto-Yodobashi, the huge 6-story building looks similar to Yodobashi’s megastore in Akihabara and Osaka. Besides selling camera equipment and consumer electronics, the building also houses other shops and restaurants. Store hours are 9:30 am to 10 pm.

It will give major competition to BIC Camera also next to Kyoto Station.

Official site in Japanese: http://www.yodobashi-kyoto.com/index.html

Longtime camera store in Kyoto, Camera no Mutsumido (カメラのムツミ堂) has filed for bankruptcy. This comes before the opening of megastore Yodobashi Camera in Kyoto.

Camera no Mutsumido was founded in 1945 and has operated several branches in Kyoto. Selling mainly cameras, they expanded to sell electrical appliances and mobile phones. From Feb. 2003, branch stores started seeing red ink due to competition from large camera chain stores.

It’s sad to see a local camera store disappear after being in business for so many decades.

As part of their 60th anniversary celebration, the Japan Professional Photographers Society (JPS) will hold a major photo exhibition called Onna (おんな), which means “Woman.” It will be an exhibition of photos of women by over 130 renown Japanese photographers (living and deceased) including Akiyama Shotaro, Araki Nobuyoshi, Ishimoto Yasuhiro, Kimura Ihei, Gomi Akira, Domon Ken, Nagashima Yurie, Hiromix, Nagano Shigeichi, Ninagawa Mika, George Hashiguchi, and Hosoe Eikoh.

The photos will span from 1945 to 2010, mainly showing women on the move and in action, displaying their “life force” and their will to live. The exhibition will be held in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Yokohama as follows:

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (Basement 1st floor)
Aug. 14-29, 2010, 10 am to 6 pm (till 8 pm on Thu. and Fri), closed Mon.
Admission 700 yen

Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (Annex)
Sept. 14-26, 2010, 9 am to 5 pm, closed Mon.

The Japan Newspaper Museum
Nov. 13-Dec. 26, 2010, 9 am to 5 pm, closed Mon.
Admission 500 yen

A photo book (exhibition catalog) with the same title will also be sold for 2,800 yen.

Thanks to JPS for sending me a flyer and two complimentary tickets.

Official site and sample photos: http://www.jps.gr.jp/jps60/

The 1st PHOTONEXT photography trade show for professionals will be held on June 29-30, 2010 at Tokyo Big Sight. This is for portrait studios, wedding photographers, school portraits, and photo accessories. You won’t find big-name camera makers like Canon and Nikon who already showed at CP+ in Yokohama.

If you went to CP+ and wondered why you didn’t see any large-format or photo accessories, it’s because they will show at PHOTONEXT.

Again, they have split the Japanese photo expo into two: One for amateurs and one for pros. I liked it the way it was with everybody in one place. It took them years to do that, but unfortunately the coupling did not last long.

http://www.photonext.jp/english/english.html

One of Japan’s most famous photographers, Shinoyama Kishin made national headlines in May 2010 when he was charged with public indecency for shooting nudes in public places. He was shooting for a nude photo book titled 200XX Tokyo which went on sale in Jan. 2010. He was not arrested nor detained, but his home and office were searched for evidence in Nov. 2009. Police later filed charges against him.

On May 26, 2010, at the Tokyo Summary Court, he got off the hook with a 300,000 yen fine and no jail time. Public indecency in Japan can bring jail time up to 6 months or a fine up to 300,000 yen.

Shinoyama played it smart by not contesting the charges filed against him and admitting guilt. He has written a letter of apology on his Web site dated May 20, 2010. Charges were also filed (papers sent to prosecutors) against the two nude female models, but they were later dropped since they stated that they only posed as directed by Shinoyama.

On his Web site, Shinoyama says that he was totally surprised by the sudden police raid on his home/office. The nude photos had already been publicly shown in magazines, exhibitions, and the photo book with no problem. Why now? What was wrong?

It turns out that the book and photos themselves were not cited as indecent, but the act of photographing two nude female models in places where they could be easily seen by passersby was considered as a no-no by police.

Shinoyama photographed the girls in twelve public places during Aug. to Oct. 2008. He did it as discretely as possible. On his Web site, he describes how he did it. The nude model is covered by a gown which can be quickly removed or put on. He has staff looking out for any passersby. He also has staff using boards to hide the model. When it is all clear, he removes the gown and shoots for a few seconds or up to a minute or two at a time.

But it was still impossible to completely hide the nude model from passersby in such urban locations. To file charges, the police zoomed in on the location of his worst offense, the famous Aoyama Cemetery in central Tokyo. Shinoyama had the girl pose on a gravestone while nude. The owner of the grave complained to the cemetery about the photos, that the girl was sitting cross-legged on the gravestone with her crotch wide open. At first, Shinoyama lied and claimed that the girl was wearing a swimsuit. The police used this public complaint to make the charges stick. There is a Japanese law saying that defaming a place of worship, which includes cemeteries, can result in a 6-month prison term and/or maximum 100,000 yen fine.

Meanwhile the 200XX Tokyo book has sold out. The publisher likely has no plans to reprint it which is extremely unusual for a Shinoyama photo book. The book is now fetching premium prices (like 50,000 yen or more at Amazon.co.jp as of this writing).

The moral of the story is, don’t shoot nudes in public places where passersby can see it at close range.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091111a8.html

Well-known Japanese photographer Fujii Hideki (藤井 秀樹) died on May 3, 2010 at age 75. He succumbed to liver cancer. This is a major loss for Japanese photography.

He was one of my very few favorite Japanese photographers and I was lucky enough to attend a few of his photo workshops. He had a very good eye and keen sense and taste in Japanese aesthetics, especially when it came to women. He is well-known for his exquisite images of Japanese women in kimono, nude, or body-painted.

He studied under Akiyama Shotaro, another famous glamour and celebrity photographer who was like a godfather of Japanese photography while he was alive.

One of his most famous photo books was Madame-D Syuga in 1993, featuring nudes of Dewi Sukarno, former Japanese wife of the Indonesian president.

He was a very distinguished-looking man, and wasn’t just a photographer, but also an educator and leader in advertising photography. A very well-respected figure who will be sorely missed.

Portraits of Independence

Inside the Kachin Independence Army at the Shinjuku Nikon Salon; April 27th till May 3rd, 2010.  gallery talk May 1st at 1pm.

Photo workshop on the 4th and 5th. 5,000 per day.

more information about the show and workshop at http://www.ryanlibre.com

In Burma everyone is oppressed. The Kachins, being ethnic and religious minorities, have it even worst.

The KIO/KIA (Kachin Independence Organization) are on the forefront of many major issues in Myanmar this year: the Border Guard Force issue, negotiating state rights, contesting the new constitution, the Myitsone Dam and the 2010 elections. The KIO/KIA is not just fighting against the military government, they are proactive on many fronts from health care and education to infrastructure and agriculture.

They run a nearly complete parallel government ready to take power if given state rights or independence. This exhibition will give you a closer look at who they are and what they do and show the current situation in Kachin on many fronts. Also many photos of Culture and religion in Kachin

We are pleased to announce our participation to ART FAIR TOKYO 2010.

For details about the fair, please visit the following website:
http://www.artfairtokyo.com/
We are greatly value your patronage and look forward to seeing you at the fair.
Thank you.

Dates and hours :

Friday, April 2　11:00am-9:00pm
Saturday, April 3　11:00am-8:00pm
Sunday, April 4　10:30am-5:00pm
* The hour of the last admission is 30 mins before the closing.
First Choice
Thursday, April 1　4:00pm-7:00pm
Opening Preview
Thursday, April 1　7:00pm-9:00pm
* Invited guests and press

Venues :

Venue I: Tokyo International Forum, B2F　Exhibition Hall
3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Venue II: PROJECTS: Tokyo International Forum,
Lobby Gallery 1, 2
3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

＊ MEM will present at booth No.E15 at Venue I.

*************************************************************************************
Artsits :
Ken Kitano, Yasumasa Mormura, Yoshio Kitayama, Tomoko Sawada, Noriko Yamaguchi, Chiyuki Sakagami

Ken Kitano

Ken Kitano’s early photographic series “Flow and Fusion” will be exhibited during the fair on the occasion of the publishing of his monograph from the same series. “Flow and Fusion” is the first milestone for the artist who later produced a well-known portrait series “our face”. The series was shot from 1989 to the mid 1990s, when Japan went through several historical events; the collapse of the Bubble Economy, the South Hyogo Prefecture Earthquake and the sarin terrorism attack. We sold 60 prints of the monograph in Paris Photo 2009, which attracted widespread media attention. Several new images from ﾔour faceﾕ series will also be on display.

(from upper left) one day/ Mt.Fuji sunrise to sunset,Yamanashi(2007),Tsutenkaku morning to evening, Osaka(2008)
(from lower left) our face /portraits of 39 People Floating Lanterns down the River Motoyasu in Memory of Atomic Bomb Victims on August 6, 2004, Hiroshima (2006) / portraits of 20 women who washing themselves in River Ganges in Varanasi,India (2008) / portraits of 25 traditional folk dancers, Seoul, Korea (2009)

Yasumasa Morimura

His solo exhibition has just started at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, which is already attracting attention. The show consists of his latest works focusing on male historical icons who survived in the turbulent days of the 20th century as a requiem for them. We will select a several images from the ﾔactressﾕ series which was produced in the middle of his self-portraiture carrier starting in the 1980s.

Self-portrait(Actress)/after Mariene Dietrich 6(1996) Mﾕs self portrait.no.40 (1993)

Yoshio Kitayama

Since the 1980s he has joined international expositions including the Venice Biennale (1982), Carnegie International (1982, Pittsburg), and Triennial India (1991, New Delhi), and has been recognized as a sculptor who works on large pieces made with bamboos and washi paper. In 1997 he started a series of large-scale monochrome paintings on Japanese paper including two series ﾔiconﾕ and ﾔuniverseﾕ. ﾔIconﾕ shows enlarged human figures drawn from little clay sculptures he makes in advance. In the ﾔuniverseﾕ series, his numerous and meticulous touches in black ink create a series of phenomenal pictures of the universe, which could be compared to the Mandala in Buddism. In 2008 he installed a 15meter high sculpture on 90thfloor of the World Financial Center Shanghai which gained much attention. Within the two exhibitions at MEM (2010), we focused on his works on paper and explored how his works have changed since 1986. The show was introduced through reviews in the Japan Times and other national media. At the fair, we will show several new paintings.

All things are in a state of flux（2009） 　 　good news（2010）

Tomoko Sawada

We will show Sawadaﾕs early works which was produced during the 1996-97. During the process of making this series Sawada said ‘I was really happy and excited while seeing the images of my face gradually coming up on the print papers when I was working in the darkroomﾕ.
We hope you will see the series of works ﾔEarly Daysﾕ which has later established Sawadaﾕs style as a self-portraiture artist.

Early Days Doll#5(1997)　 　　　 　　　　　 　　Decoration/Face (2008)

Noriko Yamaguchi

Noriko Yamaguchi is a part of the younger generation within the Japanese art scene. She uses a combination of video and photography as well as performance art. The most well-known series ‘KEITAI GIRL’ (2004) presents a futuristic image of human beings who have implanted electronic communication devices all over their body. The work focuses on today’s digital communication with cell-phones in relation with the human body. Another series, ‘PEPPERMINT GIRL’(2007), also explore her obsession with skin; she is covered with thousands of pieces of chewing gum that in some sense is used as a metaphor for DNA, conveying human genes from generation to generation. She has performedﾔKEITAI GIRLﾕon the occasion of Paris Photo’s opening in 2008, and this year she is planning to give a new performance at ARTHK’s opening event. Italy based critique, Fabriano Fabbri has wrote about her works and performance in his latest publication ‘lo zen e il manga (zen and manga / 2009)’.

KEITAI GIRL IMEKURA SHOW 2009(performance in Kyoto) 　　 　　Golden Zazame no.2 (2005)

Chiyuki Sakagami

Her drawings were included in the group show ﾕparallel visionﾕ (Setagaya City Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1993), ﾔFlood-sacred irruptionﾕ (Hara Museum of Art,Tokyo, 1994) , ﾔArtists from Japan and Koreaﾕ (2002, National Museum of Art, Osaka, and National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul 2002), ﾔEmotional Drawingsﾕ (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 2008), and some other national/international exhibitions. Her new prints with detailed pictures will be on show at the fair.

If the butterfly’s wings are torn off（2007）　　 　　tropical night/ at brackish-water region（2007）

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Contact : MEM
Arai bldg.4F-16, 2-1-1, Imabashi, Chuoku, Osaka 5410042 Osaka Japan tel.06-6231-0337
fax.06-6231-0338 PIC: Ami Fukuda, E-Mail: <fukuda@mem-inc.jp>fukuda@mem-inc.jp URL: http://www.mem-inc.jp

Japan sales of digital cameras in 2009 shrank by 4.5% compared to 2008. The average camera price also decreased by an average of about 7% compared to 2008 prices. This is according to BCN, a market research company in Japan and reported by NHK TV news today.

The economic recession combined with a saturated digicam market are cited as primary reasons for the shrinkage.

To stimulate demand and stop the slide in camera prices, camera makers are now focusing on providing unique features in their digital cameras rather than continuing the pixel race. For example, FujiFilm has marketed a compact digital camera having face recognition for pets. It can continue to focus on the face of your moving dog or cat whose face has been registered with the camera. Olympus has also marketed a very compact and lightweight D-SLR.

Sales of D-SLRs have also decreased since Sept. 2009. BCN reported that Sept. 2009 unit sales of D-SLRs reached only 96.2% of the total sold in Sept. 2008. D-SLR sales had been increasing for over 4 years until Sept. 2009.

Another interesting trend in Japan is that the D-SLR market is moving toward a higher-priced segment. In Sept. 2008, about half the total of D-SLRs sold were priced below 80,000 yen. But a year later, little over half the D-SLRs sold in Sept. 2009 were priced within 80,000 to 120,000 yen. That’s a 13.6% jump compared to a year before. D-SLR prices have stabilized and/or the market is moving up to higher-end models.

Canon and Nikon account for about 70% of D-SLR sales in Japan. Canon leads Nikon in market share in most months, but it’s a real tug of war between them. The monthly market share also hinges on the introduction of a new model by Canon or Nikon.

The best-selling D-SLR in Japan every month is almost always the Canon Kiss series (X, X2, X3 and soon X4) known as the Rebel or 400D, etc.
http://bcnranking.jp/category/subcategory_0008_month.html

The price of the Canon EOS 7D keeps falling almost weekly as of this writing. It has already fallen by 3,000 yen since early Feb. 2010 when I bought mine. The level of refinement and specs of the 7D as a midrange camera are so outstanding that I won’t have to worry about it becoming obsolete in 18-24 months and spend another bundle of money to replace it. The D-SLR market is really coming of age.
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000055429/

Used cameras will be offered for sale by numerous vendors on Feb. 17-22, 2010 in Tokyo’s Matsuya Department Store (8th floor) in Ginza. Hours are 10 am to 8 pm (till 5 pm on the 22nd).

Organized by I.C.S.

For more info in Japanese, call 03-3567-1211

世界の中古カメラ市

Just when I got used to the name “Photo Imaging Expo (PIE),” they have created yet another incarnation of Japan’s largest camera show.

It is now called the “Camera & Photo Imaging Show” abbreviated as CP+. And instead of being held in Tokyo, it will be held in Yokohama, at Pacifico Yokohama, a large convention complex.

Instead of the four photography-related organizations which held the old PIE show, CP+ will be held by CIPA (Camera & Imaging Products Association).

For details, see the show’s official site in English:
http://www.cpplus.jp/en/index.html

Pacifico Yokohama is near JR Sakuragicho and Minato Mirai Stations:
http://www.pacifico.co.jp/english/

About CIPA
The Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) is an international organization comprised of companies involved in the production and sale of silver-halide camera and digital camera, imaging-related products, software and more. In addition to product specifications, standards and technical research, CIPA deals with environmental issues and other industry-wide issues and seeks to contribute to the development of photographic and imaging culture.
Web site: http://www.cipa.jp/english/

In Yamaguchi, a mosaic of 120,000 photos of smiling faces created the world’s largest photo mosaic of poet Misuzu Kaneko.

Over 200 residents took 6 hours to make the intriguing mosaic.

See it here at the Japan Times:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100114f3.html

As a birthplace of photography in Japan, Yokohama will be staging a full-fledged photo festival from 2012. They will be holding a few activities as a prelude to the festival.

One of them is the Open Portfolio Review. On Jan. 16-17, 2010, they will have a large room with a long table lined with photo portfolios of various photographers who apply for this event. A panel of distinguished photographers, curators, and critics will review your portfolio in your presence.

They will accept applications for this portfolio review from early Dec. See their Web site for details and application info:
http://www.yokohamaphotofestival.org/Portfolio_Review.html

Another photo museum has opened in Japan. This one is in the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture. Opened on Oct. 26, 2009, the new Izu Photo Museum is part of the Clematis no Oka museum complex.

The museum was designed by Sugimoto Hiroshi who is also the first artist to exhibit at the new photo museum. The museum is near JR Mishima Station on the Tokaido Line. A free shuttle bus is provided from the north exit, leacing once an hour.

See their Web site for more details.
http://www.izuphoto-museum.jp/e/index.html