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I am trying to write a message to a friend where I compare their work to a famous Japanese photographer whose work I was familiar with in 2008.

For some reason Google is now flooded with the millions of images of amateur photographers everywhere, and I can not locate this man's name or any of his images.

I will describe what I remember of his work and methods, somebody please fill in the name!

Work : Ultra long exposure taken through a filter something like welding glass. On the order of 6 or more hours in daylight. Black and white. Artist held a small mirror and walked around the frame, reflecting sunlight directly back into the aperture creating interesting sparkles of light throughout the image.

The location of this photo is one of the famous, large intersections in Tokyo. Shibuya or Shinjuku. There are no people since their trace is not recorded by the very slow exposure. Obviously thousands of people walked in front of the camera that day, but the only thing we see are these pinpoints of light and the intersection.

mattdm
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Cris Stringfellow
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1 Answers1

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Tokihiro Sato, I believe. A site with his work is here: http://photoarts.com/gallery/sato/satoexh.html

The specific photograph you're referring to is http://photoarts.com/gallery/sato/87.html

BobT
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  • Yes! Yes, that's it! Thank you very much. Out of curiosity was that from the top of your head or did you track it down? And if so, how?? – Cris Stringfellow Dec 13 '12 at 19:16
  • I'd seen his work at the Art Institute of Chicago a couple of years ago, so I knew what it looked like. I googled "japanese photographer long exposure flashlight mirror" and picked his work out of the resulting images. – BobT Dec 13 '12 at 19:33
  • Just a few clicks better than me. I had a similar google, but didn't recognize his other works. I think the flashlight probably clinched it. Excellent. – Cris Stringfellow Dec 13 '12 at 19:40
  • I love his work ... very interesting. Wouldn't mind giving it a try myself :) – Nippysaurus Dec 13 '12 at 23:51