Dear Tokyo, • stone stewart

CATEGORY: PHOTOGRAPHY, MUSIC

YEAR: 2017-2018

Dear Tokyo,

My senior thesis: a photobook and beat tape documenting my time in Tokyo during the summer of 2017

CONCEPT

Dear Tokyo, is a small coffee table photobook featuring pictures I photographed during my time in Tokyo this past summer. Shot entirely in 35mm color negative film, the photos reflect my intimate perspective of the city’s beauty. Shooting pictures has been a casual hobby of mine for many years now, but it wasn’t until summer 2017 that I began to shoot analog film.

Beyond just a photobook, this book is meant to serve as a love letter to Tokyo – a city that means a lot to me. It’s a place that taught me to love art, architecture, craftsmanship, design, food, and most importantly, my own ethnic and cultural identity (half Japanese and Caribbean). These photos serve as my visual documentation of the city, but also an expression of my gratitude for shaping who I am.

MUSIC

Accompanying the photobook is an 8-minute beat tape of originally produced music that serves as a pseudo "score" for the book and its images. The intention being that, while the photographs that I have taken aim to express a specific feeling or emotion about the city visually, to be more intentional and have a finer control over this expression I have chosen to accompany the photographs with music as well.

In our digital age of photography, large volumes of photos can be viewed just seconds at a time as we scroll down our endless feeds. The temporal component of music encourages more focused and deliberate viewing of the photos and book as a whole.