WE ARE ALL JAPANESE

Not many years ago the Japanese tourists used to be known for traveling around the world taking pictures with their small and sometimes not so small cameras. There is also a TV spot from Energizer that plays with this stereotype: a guy that has lost his right arm gets an arm replacement from a Japanese donor and he can’t stop taking pictures even when he is sleeping. The spot got international recognition in the Cannes Festival a couple of years ago and a special applause from the Japanese present in the audience.

With the massive proliferation of point & shoot digital cameras the stereotype has become out of fashion: now we are all Japanese.

Last summer I went to visit the Biennale in Venice carrying my Leica point & shoot ready to record that amazing eclectic and gigantic art show. Endless galleries packed with photographs, paintings, videos, sculptures and installations were the perfect target to play with light and shadows, shapes and forms.

Soon I realized I was not alone in my pursuit. There were hundreds like me. It was then I started making shooters my object of interest.

By the way, who knows? Perhaps another photographer present had the same idea and starting taking pictures of me taking pictures of others. I bet Jorge Luis Borges would love a circular ending like this.