Self Developed Black and White - Street Photography in Japan

On one of my current Japan trips I was shooting on Ilford HP5 400 black and white film using my old Nikon F801 camera.


The film I developed by myself using Ars Imago Chemicals.

A collection of images can be found in the archive at my website at: andreasrmueller.com

Black and white offers nice possibilities to capture texture in sceneries.
The different signs in asian writing being a source for nice patterns, but also the societal aspects such as kids all wearing the same school uniforms.

What is interesting in Japanese cities is busy, crowded, loud, and lively places, and in contrast ever present oasis of spiritual calmness around the different shrines and temples.
Black and white being a calm and simplified form of photographic art in it self captures very well this contrast and different moods.

Given the demographic development in Japan there are a lot of elderly people. Most of them still working as bus drivers, taxi drivers, shop owners, ... The black and white capture somehow underlines this age structure of the Japanese society.

Self developing the film brings the whole process of my Japan street photography to a closed end. Japanese are very keen on handcraft and on doing things on their own. While all digital processes are all automatic and preset, the manual chemical film development process is a type of craftsmanship that became almost distinct.

Japan being a highly innovation motivated society then it comes to technology it is still surprising how the Japanese are using old equipment everywhere. Being it photo cameras - same as myself, ... - but also Hi-Fi installations, bicycles, cars, trains, ...

The root cause for this might be in their deep respect of craftsmanship and engineering expertise. Same as the skills around gardening, calligraphy, and other traditional crafts.