Bending the Light Page #2

The sense of ritual and

then going out into the

town where it's completely chaotic,

and those contradictions again are what

really really excited me about being here.

What is special for me

is this is one of the few

rock gardens, a Suiseki garden

which means a dry garden,

in this part of Japan.

These eight rocks in this

garden represent eight gods.

It's a paradise garden.

Shakkei translates as "borrowing scenery."

So at one time, the scenery

that was being borrowed here

was probably that

hillside, that cliffside.

Here we have a prefab school

that's been built right outside

of the grounds of this

very contemplative space.

Contemporary, the ancient,

they all work together

and I'm interested in that.

I'm interested in juxtaposition,

I'm interested in artifice,

and that's carried through

with my work for 30 years.

The Japanese sense of architecture,

the Japanese sense of space,

is something that's always interested me.

That's the reason I came here.

I have a recollection when I was a kid

going into the chaos of my room

and going into my older brother's

room and he was obsessive,

he was a mathematician,

and everything in that room

was arranged on the desk.

It was perfectly arranged,

and I felt so at peace

in that space.

My interest in Japan is not

only in historical buildings

but also in the artifice of nature.

This tree has been

manipulated and contorted

to such a point that it frames

the pavilion down below.

It's a wonderful example

of how the Japanese use

nature in a very artificial way.

My dioramas are very similar in terms of

working with the animals

when they're in deep storage.

I had access to the Smithsonian archives,

and they have all of

these taxidermy animals

in these crates.

It's the whole idea of

going out into nature,

killing these animals, bring

them back into this human realm

and for display purposes,

reanimating them.

And that is a very interesting idea.

It's perverse, but it's

wonderful in its perversity.

I'm interested in the

history of optics especially,

and who but the Japanese and the Germans

have perfected it to such a level.

What is it about that

compulsiveness, that obsessiveness,

between both cultures

that allows them to create

these fine finely, finely-crafted objects?

The idea in Buddhism is that

nothing can be perfected,

and yet, I think the

Japanese in terms of the way

that they approach lens-making for example

are attempting to achieve perfection.

- [Mitsuharu] I look at

the lens very closely,

and try to understand its feeling.

- [Voiceover] Is there

anything that you dream about

that you'd like to take pictures of?

- I'd really love to photograph secret,

and maybe even dangerous places.

I read about something that

happened at the remote base

at the South Pole.

There were two buildings

three-meters-apart,

and one had a bathroom.

On a short journey from one to the other,

someone disappeared and was never found.

The challenge of taking a

photo to capture the mystery

of that place, of that

brutal, freezing environment,

a place I would never

normally be allowed to go,

really interests me.

- The one that's most

well-known is probably

the Unabomber's cabin.

I photographed the cabin in sichew

after it had been

discovered, put on a truck

and shipped out to California.

That was a secret place,

nobody else had access to that,

and I decided because of

that access that I wanted

to make it something else.

It was this very simple, iconic shape.

A cabin in the woods, and that to me,

its banality was interesting to me.

I photographed all four

sides of the cabin,

thinking about it as mugshots,

and the whole idea of

architecture being put on trial,

this was the major piece

of evidence in the trial,

but I decided to complete

it and I found the site,

and what the FBI had done is

they put a chain-link fence

around where the cabin used

to be with signs saying,

"No Trespassing, Danger" in

the middle of the forest.

So you have this bucolic setting,

with this chain-link

fence describing nothing.

(peaceful ambient music)

- [Voiceover] Is there

anything else you'd like

to have a go at?

- If I had the chance, I

wouldn't mind being an actor.

- [Voiceover] And who

would you like to play?

- (laughing) Ultraman.

I haven't grown up yet.

(explosions)

- [Voiceover] That way,

that way, that way.

- I don't take snapshots.

I take pictures of my family

sometimes, but the whole idea

of the history and memory,

I'm interested in history.

I like to be surprised.

And this current project that

I'm doing on the Civil War

has really engaged me and

I'm using the technology

of the time and that to me

is a very exciting thing.

(peaceful atmospheric music)

A lot of my work starts

out in a documentary place,

but then it goes someplace else.

And when that works, when a

viewer comes to it and thinks,

"this is something I don't understand,"

and spends time with it

to try and understand it,

that image for me is working.

- [Voiceover] Are you

proud of your lenses?

- Yes, very much so.

There is a big baseball

stadium called the Tokyo Dome.

It has a camera that shoots

down from the high position

called the bird's eye.

This camera uses my lens.

- [Voiceover] Do you have a secret dream?

- My dream?

My dream is to become a

professional baseball star,

of course.

- [Voiceover] Aren't

you a bit old for that?

(Mitsuharu laughs)

- After all, age cannot

stop your dreaming.

(audience cheering)

- When I first started,

and it was obviously the desire

to go to all the big events,

so I've done the big events.

World Cup soccer, which

is probably my favorite.

The Olympics, winter and summer.

And it just goes downhill from there.

So now it's more the photography.

The photography is very, it's a driving

aspect for me now.

I mean, it is luck, there's

a lot of luck involved.

It's just a question

of, are you prepared to

take that chance when it comes to you.

I've done more than one

World Cup final and been

sitting there picking my nose

'cause it's all been happening

down the other end, so,

you know, I tend to think

what goes around comes around.

It was a rainy day and Cambridge

University were playing

a Japanese university.

No one wanted to do it.

You know, I went, shot the game

and then I kind of left

early, which is a cardinal sin

for a sports photographer,

leaving before the end of the game.

And on the way to the car,

I just bashed out a couple

of frames, jumped in the car,

and I saw that frame and I thought,

"That's a pretty good frame."

When you're photographing

something that's gonna happen

for a fraction of a second,

there's no luxury to redo it.

I think skiing is a particular

challenge because you end up

having to ski the course which

is designed for the athletes.

You ski it because you can

get to see all the positions.

You can look at where you

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