As the first hints of autumn appear, the world slows just enough to notice its colours shifting and fading. Tokyo’s streets also show this quiet nostalgia and soft glows, fleeting reflections, and moments that capture the rhythm of daily life before evening falls. In this newsletter I tell why I recreated the images differently the 2nd time around.
Get ready to go home, Tokyo style.
LATEST BLOG
The Backstories Behind My Tokyo Shibuya Images
This week’s blog explores the stories behind the images, how I choose them, and the little details I’ve discovered along the way. For Tokyo, where I didn’t take the photos myself, I approached the images as a viewer might, seeing each scene for the first time.
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JUST FOR YOU:
Out with the old,
in with the new!
From Grainy to Fluid:
– Tokyo Through a Nostalgic Lens.
Back in 1994, the first images for this series came out grainy, a little old-school, like snapshots from a well-loved sketchbook. They had a warmth, a character of their own, a hint of the city’s rhythm frozen in analogue tones.
When I revisited the series years later, I initially tried to recreate that same grainy texture. But the images themselves already carried nostalgia. Adding extra grain felt like cluttering the page, it worked against the pictures, not making them stronger.
I decided to try something different. A smoother, more fluid style emerged, blending modern photographic techniques with the warmth of memory. Think of it as a subtle nod to Japan’s visual culture. A touch of cartoonish clarity, a whisper of manga lining, framing the human moments, the glowing streets, the fleeting reflections.
The pages capture this balance beautifully: a softly lit pharmacy, a reflection, a young woman tending flowers, passersby moving to their own rhythm. Urban solitude, sunlight glancing off bus windows like a carefully drawn panel. A weathered bus carrying silent passengers, reflections merging the city and its people into a brief, living moment.
Step into this blend of nostalgia and new perspective, and explore the full stories behind the Shibuya series: Read the full blog
Sometimes, letting go of the old, even the grainy charm, makes room for something both fresh and timeless, with a little cartoon magic along the way.
