was a Japanese photographer who photographed the one-time mining town of Yūbari,

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. Born in

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

, Kazama moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in 1978. He held exhibitions in Tokyo two years later. In 1987 he moved to Nanporo in

, and two years later to Yūbari. He lived there for 18 years. (Iwamoto Shigeyuki), (Kazama Kensuke-san), ('' Hokkaidō Shinbun''), 29 July 2017. Availabl
here
. Kazama's photographs of the town of Yūbari and its abandoned mines and mining paraphernalia are in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

, and employ a

medium-format Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&nbs ...

camera for detail and small

aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

for great

depth of field The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus in an image captured with a camera. Factors affecting depth of field For cameras that can only focus on one object dist ...

, often allied with a formal composition.

Mitsugu Ōnishi Mitsugu Ōnishi (大西みつぐ,His personal name was originally written 貢. ''Ōnishi Mitsugu''; born 7 October 1952) is a Japanese photographer. Born in Tokyo, Ōnishi graduated from the Tokyo College of Photography in 1974, rejoining a year ...

points out that the results "run counter to the ruins photography trend". From 1994 his photographs of Yūbari appeared in the magazines ''

Nippon Camera is a Japanese photography magazine, published between 1950 and 2021. ''Nippon Camera'' started in March 1950 as a bimonthly magazine, published by Kōgeisha (Tokyo) as the successor to the book series ''Amachua Shashin Sōsho'' (1948–49). I ...

'' and ''

Asahi Camera was a Japanese monthly photographic magazine, published from April 1926 until July 2020, when it was discontinued due to declining circulation. History and profile The first issue was that for April 1926.During the twentieth century, Japanese mon ...

''; he also participated regularly in Higashikawa Photofesta. Kazama won the 18th Higashikawa Special Prize in 2002 and (for his book ''Yūbari'') the PSJ newcomer's award and the 18th

Society of Photography Award The Society of Photography Award (「写真の会」賞, ''Shashin no Kai shō'') is an award presented annually since 1989 by the (Tokyo-based) Society of Photography (写真の会, ''Shashin no Kai'') for outstanding work in photography. Recipie ...

in 2006. In March 2006, Kazama moved to Mitaka,

. His subsequent photographs of nearby

Inokashira Park is a park which straddles Musashino and Mitaka in western Tokyo, Japan. Inokashira Pond (井の頭池) and the , established during the Edo period, are the primary sources of the Kanda River. The land was given to Tokyo in 1913. On May 1, 191 ...

, which employ the same techniques as his photographs of Yūbari, have been published. He would sell his prints for as little as 1,000

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

each. Kazama later moved to

Sayama is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 149,826 in 69,859 households and a population density of 3100 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Sayama is located in south-centr ...

( Saitama), where in 2010 he was working more with

photogram A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The usual result is a negative shadow image th ...

s, mounting both food specimens and

potato crisps A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or app ...

lightly edited to resemble faces in a specially constructed negative carrier and enlarging from this. In 2014 Kazama finally moved to

Tateyama Tateyama may refer to: People with the surname * Midori Tateyama, Japanese writer * Shohei Tateyama (born 1981), Japanese baseball player * Yoshinori Tateyama (born 1975), Japanese baseball player * Homarefuji Yoshiyuki (born 1985), Japanese su ...

(

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

), where he continued his photography. Kazama had great trouble making a living. Despite complaining about ill-health, he would not go to a hospital. He posted his final comment on Facebook on 3 June 2017; his body was discovered at home on 17 June. (Shashinka Kazama Kensuke no fuhō ni sesshite), (Gekkan-shi ' kōshiki burogu), 20 June 2017. Accessed 15 November 2017.

Books by Kazama

*''Live.'' Self-published, 1980. *''Sorachi tankō isan sanpo'' (, Walks in the remains of the coalmines of Sorachi). Sapporo: Kyōdō Bunkasha, 2003. . Kazama contributes the photographs. *''Kazama Kensuke shashinshū: Yūbari'' () / ''Kensuke Kazama Photographic Collection: Yubari.'' Sapporo: Jyuryousya, 2005. . All text and captions in both Japanese and English.

References

Sources and external links

Kazama's site

a site about Kazama

" a fan's page about Kazama {{DEFAULTSORT:Kazama, Kensuke 1960 births 2017 deaths Japanese photographers Artists from Mie Prefecture Date of death unknown