Tokyo Street Photography – A One Shot Story

First, an admission: I don’t get the term “street photography.”  I’ve always assumed that’s what we did when we just called it photography. But I realize this is probably a generational thing, so I go along with the crowd. Street photography it is.

This photograph is probably as close as I have gotten to what’s now known as street photography. It was made on a sidewalk in the tony Ginza shopping district of Tokyo. The camera in hand was a Zeiss Ikon Contessa 35, the early 1950’s model. It’s a rangefinder folder sporting a 45mm F2.8 Zeiss Opton lens, a Tessar, I believe. It’s a favorite of mine, particularly for travel photography, and it was loaded with Kodak Tri-X.

This photograph is also a prime example of the joys of good luck, of which I had heapings of when this image came together. I was strolling down the street, scanning the sidewalk and street ahead of me. I had earlier taken a reading with a simple incident  handheld light meter and set the camera accordingly. For some reason, I looked back over my right shoulder and saw the man in the straw hat. He was working the street for donations.

I quickened my pace to get me a few more feet ahead of him. I was aware of a couple of people to the right of him, but didn’t spend much time on them. Trying not to trip, I came to a halt on the sidewalk, turned around and brought the Contessa to my eye.

I quickly focused the camera, no easy thing given the old-style tiny viewfinder port on the back of the camera. The camera shutter was cocked – something the photographer has to do after each shot – and I quickly engaged the shutter. I then turned around again, and resumed walking ahead.

I saw the result a couple of weeks later when I got home to Honolulu and had the film processed and scanned. Only then did I realize that the fellow next to the man with the straw hat had on a freaky t-shirt that seemed to mimic his stance. Or that there was another photographer in the photo (right edge of the photograph).

I’ve walked the streets of Tokyo many times since this photograph was made, often with the Contessa 35 in hand, but never had the stars line up as well as they did on that afternoon.

Share this post: