Yoshiyuki Okuyama: Enduring the Pains of Creation to Reach the Forefront of Visual Expression

I first became interested in photography during my university years. It started when I began taking photos of location scenery to draw storyboards for films. I found it interesting how the imagination creates margins in the moment a photo is captured, and how the parts left unshown can change the viewer's perception.

It ranges from photos and art pieces created by small groups, similar to personal projects, to commercial photography like advertisements. Over the past 12 years, I have mainly focused on these types of jobs. I think it's a good state for me to not be limited to a single field. It's like being surrounded by various canvases and adding a little color to each one, bit by bit. This allows me to approach each challenge with a fresh feeling, wondering, "How did I paint this before?"

For example, a beautiful sunset or a pretty cityscape that looks like a postcard feels like a one-dimensional view of the world. However, the reason we feel something is "beautiful" is precisely because the opposite phenomenon of "not beautiful" exists. Behind a delicious steak, there is the reality of a cow being killed. Everything in the world has a front and a back; when you create depth between them, an aspect appears, and it gradually becomes multi-faceted. What I want to capture is the "aspect visible only to me" that appears within that. I have pressed the shutter at the moment I felt I caught a glimpse of that aspect.

I have always loved looking at photobooks. While the appeal of photography lies in looking at images one by one, when editing is involved, a flow and structure are born. Compiling them into a single book creates the joy of perceiving that entire flow.

I feel that expressing through photography and creating a photobook are completely different jobs. I also like doing the layout myself, so I provide as many ideas for the book design as possible. A book is a mysterious object that makes you want to keep it. When I look back at my own photobooks years later, I often realize the essential message of the photos for the first time. Keeping my work in a photobook feels a bit like a time capsule.

When I'm making a book, I can't make a decision unless I have a reason for every photo selection, placement, and design. However, there are things that remain where I think, "I don't understand the logic, but this is it!" It's important to leave these unknown parts. When I create my next work and look at the previous one with a different perspective, I might have an objective realization like, "Maybe this is what it meant." That's when I realize my own identity as an artist that I hadn't noticed before.

That's true. On the other hand, if you only pursue creation, then "life = creating." If these two get too close, it becomes difficult to maintain mental balance. If you identify yourself too closely with your work, the pain when what you've created isn't understood or is criticized becomes immense.

Actually, when "BEST BEFORE" was finished, I felt that among the canvases surrounding me, the canvas of "photography in commercial work" didn't have much margin left for new colors.

Every photo was created through collaboration with various people. Each time, I intended to change the painting style, materials, and tools, but as a result, I felt I had painted everything I could in terms of photographic expression for commercial work.

Currently, I am working on MVs and other productions while also creating a photobook to be published next year. For about six months after publishing "BEST BEFORE," I spent time watching movies and reading books I had wanted to as a reward to myself, but I had an instinctive feeling that once I take something in, I must put something out.

Lately, I find creating video more interesting, perhaps because more people are involved than in photography. Because there are many things I don't know, there are conflicts and struggles, but I also feel like I'm once again challenging the "experiment of life" that I felt when I first started photography.

Creating things is a process within communication with people. The reason input is necessary is not so much to lead directly to output, but to use the creative works of others as a guide for communication. Within input, there is the premise that people are creating things together.

Yes. When I was in middle and high school, I watched MTV a lot. From the early 90s to the early 2000s, I was inspired by the works of directors with strong artistic identities, like Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and Jonathan Glazer, who were later called the MTV generation. It was interesting to see the creator's ingenuity through the direction.

However, the actual trigger for starting to make films with Takeuchi-kun and our high school friends was Koki Mitani's work. Do you remember, Takeuchi-kun?

That's right. Also, I think it was significant that our Japanese teacher, Mr. Yasuo Omori, showed us the sitcom "HR" starring Shingo Katori during class. I was shocked that there was someone who could think of a play so meticulously, and yet not appear in it himself. I thought, "How cool is that!"

Influenced by that, we also made a one-room sitcom. One of them was a collection of short stories called "Wasshoi!" which featured several fictional club activities and summarized what happened in those club rooms into five stories totaling about 30 minutes. We even entered it into competitions.

I suppose it's "Wasshoi!" winning the Grand Prix at the Eiga Koshien (High School Film Championship). I believe we filmed "Wasshoi!" during summer vacation. We couldn't get permission to film in a classroom, so we filmed in the club building at Mamushidani. About ten of us were sweating in a stuffy boys' school club room. It was fun, but if you ask if I want to go back to those days...

I continued making "one-room" pieces at Senior High School, and in university, I filmed a feature-length slapstick comedy called "Panic Comic" set in a manga artist's office. Looking back, I've been doing the same thing all along (laughs).

I think elements of humor are present in both my video and photography. In the case of photography, people tend to think there is no narrative because it captures a single moment, but if you pursue images that evoke the moments before and after, you can achieve expressions even more eccentric than in video. I think the "funny" elements of comedy I was obsessed with in middle and high school remain as a sense of humor, like "it would be interesting if this happened."

In that regard, the new MV I'm making right now is very much in my style. I feel an excitement that I can finally challenge expressions that Japanese people have been particularly bad at until now.

Lately, I'm often given complete creative control. Of course, through dialogue, I might receive requests like "I want to do this here."

When I first started working in photography and video, my proposals rarely went through and I was often scolded by those around me, but after five or six years, people gradually began to understand my intentions. Once a common understanding is established, the opportunities to be left in charge increase, which in turn has become a battle with myself.

This is because, before that, when I tried to create something that surpassed my previous work, the person I disagreed with was someone else. In those cases, I would reflect on what the other person was thinking when they said that, or if I was making assumptions based on my own experience. As those conflicts gradually disappear, the person I talk to becomes myself. However, it's hard to grow that way, so now I try to head toward places where I can take on new challenges.

For example, I'm currently working on filmmaking. Since I'm a newcomer with no works in the world of commercial film, it's taking years to write the script, and the people around me simply won't nod their heads. It's very frustrating, but I also feel that it's a blessing for this state to continue.

That said, considering I'll continue creating for the next 50 years, I'll be thinking "what should I do with that scene" every morning. It's not that it's not fun, but the process of creating is truly difficult. I'm grateful for the requests, but I also think, "Am I going to experience that feeling again?"

But it's much more painful when I create something safe. That's just a waste of physical strength and time. In those moments, I find myself thinking, "What is my life for?" I believe that life is about facing things seriously and encountering emotions you didn't know. My theme is how many emotions I can encounter by engaging with many people and facing others before my life ends.

Designer Maiko Kurogouchi explained to me that she "created the collection with this idea," and I tried to perceive and express the fundamental things that influenced her in the same way.

For the 2021 Autumn/Winter collection themed "Windows," I created images after reading Toshiyuki Horie's "The Bewildering Window," which was the source of inspiration. It was inspired by a text called "Geranium" written about Andrew Wyeth's work. For the 2022 Spring/Summer collection video themed "Mist," I went to see the scenery in Kurogouchi-san's hometown in Nagano and went to a temple to listen to sutra chanting. No matter what kind of video I create, I make sure not to deviate from the designer's message and to ensure the fundamental communication is correct.

Digital has the advantage of being able to see the photos you've taken immediately, but it also has the disadvantage of causing you to stare only inside the frame and become trapped by the things being captured. Human vision is not square, so if you exclude other possibilities outside the frame, you end up not seeing the raw events happening in front of you.

Since the temperature of the shooting location isn't conveyed through the page, I think photographers shouldn't judge what they want to convey based on the atmosphere of the moment. In that regard, film allows you to review things in a calm state because of the time involved in development. It's technically possible to reproduce the same effect as film with digital, but to me, that doesn't matter. The important thing is "what you want to shoot." The same goes for choosing equipment; I might use a tripod to shoot what I'm aiming for, or I might use an instant camera.

For video, digital is more suitable because editing is key. Since it's difficult to share the image in my head with a large staff, I value having a common understanding of what we are aiming for as we shoot. This is because it leads to the strength of the final product. Video sets take time, so if anxiety builds up, it becomes difficult to draw out the appropriate direction. In that respect, I feel digital is more suited for video.

First of all, I earnestly explain how attractive I find the work. I think it's important for the people involved to enjoy themselves and proactively want to make it better. To that end, even on sets with many people, I have everyone introduce themselves before shooting and try to remember each person's name as much as possible. I want everyone to have a sense of participation. Also, no matter what predicament we're in, I try to look like I'm having fun.

On the contrary, I try to enjoy those situations too. Then the staff might think, "This person seems to be having fun anyway, so I guess I have to help," and they might respond to difficult requests. Without that, miracles don't happen on set.

Yes. I've been preparing for about six years, but I'm struggling to create a script I'm satisfied with.

I create up to the plot and original idea, and then I had a screenwriter join me in the process of turning that plot into a long plot. I continue to refine it through repeated meetings with the screenwriter and producer to see how it can be improved. I'm finally at the stage of adding dialogue.

Paradoxically, I hope to see more works created for a small audience that reflect the strong feelings and enthusiasm of the few people at the center of production who desperately want to convey something. I believe those are the things that ultimately reach the hearts of many people.

From the MTV videos I used to watch, I could feel the strong desire of the artists who thought, "I'm making this because I think it's absolutely wonderful!" My life was changed by those things, so I hope such things will increase, and I want to continue creating such works myself.