Photographer Hiroyuki Suzuki

Scenes Beyond our Imagination

A photograph enables us to permanently own the scenery or subject we see in the viewfinder by capturing what is right in front of us with a camera. Sometimes, it creates an unusual space beyond our imagination.

Of course, it is nothing more than coincidence when one encounters an exciting subject and a satisfactory shot is only possible when all the conditions are perfect. A photo shoot might be a journey to find a lucky coincidence.

In September 2010, the ideal spot for a photo shoot was at Haneda International Airport. Runway D was being constructed at the new international terminal on Tokyo Bay. The creativity and ingenuity it took to build a broad runway on the sea was a mystery that I had never seen before. The parts of the runway that had arrived from Chiba, on the opposite shore, were on cranes afloat on the sea waiting to be installed. It was a slow process, as the crew had to wait for the last flight to arrive before they could start work, and they installed them one piece a night, every night. Because the construction site was at the point where the mouth of the river meets the sea, stainless steel feet sustained the site without sand landfill to keep the ecological system of the river and the sea.

The trimmed space was an unusual scene beyond all imagination. The plastic sheeting used to cover the site, and the plastic tanks that held the sheets in place when strong sea winds blew, were lying on the vast site bathed in the gloriously strong midsummer sunshine. The photo describes various “mysteries” to the viewer such as: Why? For what? And where?

Interestingly, during the construction they suddenly had to hide the white line on the taxiway because an airplane had landed on the runway by mistake. tj

日の前に広がる風景や物体をたった一センチ四方ファインダーにのぞき装填したレンズをとおして自分のものにするフォトグラフ。レンズは時として想像を超えた異空間をつくりあげてくれる。

もちろん興奮する被写体との出会いは偶然以外の何物でもない。制約のある撮影現場の条件や天候が味方につかなければ会心のショットは生まれない。「撮影は偶然との出会い探しの旅かもしれない」

2010 年 9 月まだ真夏の日差しの強いこの現場は東京湾上に建設を進める羽田空港の新しい国際線の D 滑走路である。海の上に広大な滑走路を造るための創造的工夫は見たことの無い「不思議」を提供してくれた。対岸の千葉からクレーン船で運んだ滑走路のパーツを湾上で待機させ、毎夜フライト最終便が到着した後一晩一機ずつ設置作業を行った。河口と湾の出会う建設現場は川と海の生態系を維持するために土砂により埋め立てることなくステンレスの脚でこの敷地を支えている。

想像を超えた異空間、切り取られた空間は真夏の広大な敷地に敷かれたビニールシートとポリタンク。なぜ、何のために。何処?といったいろいろな「謎」を写真から仕掛けられることになる。

まだ工事は終わっていなかったこの滑走路に誤って着陸した航空機があったことから急きょこの誘導路の白線を隠すことに。置かれたポリタンクは強い海風の吹く現場のシートの重石代わりのものであった。tj

The original article can be found in Issue #276 of the Tokyo Journal. Click here to order from Amazon.