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In the midst of a contemporary urban jungle, I took my Pentax K1000 film camera and walked into the city of Tokyo with the goal of capturing a slight glimpse into this cosmopolitan city. Being a Tokyo regular, I was expecting the trip to be predictable, but this time, a school photography project brought me out of the surface level relationship I didn't know I had with this city.
With a specific theme in mind and 10 rolls of film in my backpack, I was finally set to start a street photo series in Tokyo. Having become addicted to analogue film, this trip was the chance for me to shoot film in a new city and a new environment. Whether black and white or colour, the goal of the series was to portray Tokyo through foreign but familiar eyes.
The above image is by far the best photograph I’ve taken, and it was completely by accident. The photo was taken while I was blindly walking through the streets of Shinjuku. It was only when I developed the roll, that I experienced the high photographers get from capturing the shot. Wanting to ride the wave longer, I tried recreating the photo in different locations, but continuously failing to capture an image like the first. I realised that the exact photos and paths I’ve taken can never be recreated, in life and in photography.
Tokyo as a city moves quicker than my camera shutter, which means nothing will ever look or be the same. Just like Tokyo, moments move faster than you can follow— you can try to copy them, but don't expect the paste to be the exact same. Every shot will be different and most won't be the one, but they are all worth taking because the best part of life is that you can't predict how the next shot will turn out. I feel a sense of calm and kinship with this familiar city, knowing that things will never be the same again.
Growing up in Hong Kong, Rosamond is a recent high school graduate who is in the middle of her gap year. She has always been interested in capturing little moments and stories in the places she goes to. Whether it's her love for film photography or her obsession with making playlists, you will always see Roz with a camera around her neck and lo-fi bops playing on her headphones. Follow her adventures on Instagram.
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