ABOUT ME : Takanori Tomimatsu

Japanese photographer Takanori Tomimatsu has specialised in street photography in Tokyo and nearby cities. Tomimatsu is an enthusiastic, self-taught photographer. His pictures appear on Facebook all year round.

Takanori Tomimatsu at :

Facebook : “Takanori Tomimatsu Photograpy"

www.facebook.com/TakanoriTomimatsuPhotography/

"Takanori Tomimatsu Colour Photography"

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089366783300

Instagram : “takanori_tomimatsu”

www.instagram.com/takanori_tomimatsu/

Leica Photografie International : "Blog"

lfi-online.de/ceemes/en/blog/interview-takanori-tomimatsu...

I was born in Fukuoka City, Kyushu Region, Japan in 1955. In my high school days, I started to take monochrome photos of family, school friends, landscapes and buildings, with a camera that was made in Japan. Until very recently, I was too scared to turn the camera on strangers. When I started working, I bought an old and unused analogue Leica M7, which had a lens made in Japan. This was in 2008 and it was my first. I resigned from my office job and, when I turned 58 in 2013, I started taking photos on the street. My experience of street photography has been brief.

In most cases, I only carry one camera body and one single manual focus lens, which I hang around my neck on a camera strap. I think a light outfit makes it easier, and works well for taking pictures on the street. I’m not like a professional photographer. I simply snap a picture without using the view-finder, without eye-contact, without saying “hello”, and, more often than not, just in passing. Pedestrians move toward me; at the same time, I walk toward them. Basically, I’ll get a sense for a good subject, go up close to them and take photos. I’ve done this many times, and I still continue with this approach. However, you need to take care with how you go about it, as I’ve had few problems because I get up really close to people.

Before getting the Leica SL (Typ 601), I mainly used the Leica M Monochrom/CCD for four years. As for lenses, I use the 50mm and 35mm when using a view-finder, and the 28mm, 24mm and 18mm with no view-finder. Since September 2016, I’ve mainly been using the Super-Elmar-M f3.8/18mm ASPH. The more I worked with the different lenses, the more important the background of the street photos became, and the wider the angle.

At this point in time, I find the Super-Elmar-M f3.8/18mm ASPH. is very important for street photography, because, taking photos on busy streets, where you’re capturing motion, it’s good to have a shutter-speed of over 1/500 second. In my case, the f-stop is roughly f/5.6. Of course, it isn’t heavy. Because I feel that the street background in a photo is an important as the people, I try to take photos with the SL in colour. From the raw, colour files, I choose colour or monochrome depending on the feeling I want to convey. The SL has two great advantages over the M type : first, ISO50 is standard, and second, settings are detailed and strict. That’s the best combination for me currently.

(P.S.) Nowadays, while working on this text, I used Leica SL (Typ 601) with Super-Vario-Elmar-SL f3.5-f4.5/16mm-35mm ASPH.

Thank you.