Anatomy of a photography by Hiroshi Watanabe

I work in the traditional darkroom and make silver gelatin prints just like old days. Prints are then toned in diluted sepia toner for archival purpose and split-tone-like tonality.
Anatomy of a photography | Hiroshi Watanabe

Born in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, I graduated from the Department of Photography of Nihon University in 1975.

I moved to Los Angeles, where I worked as a production coordinator for Japanese television commercials and later co-founded a Japanese coordination services company. I obtained an MBA from the UCLA Anderson Business School in 1993. Two years later, however, my earlier interest in photography revived, and I started to travel worldwide, extensively photographing what I found intriguing at each moment and place. As of 2000, I have worked full-time at photography. [Official Website]

” I go to places that captivate and intrigue me. I am interested in what humans do. I seek to capture people, traditions, and locales that first and foremost are of personal interest. I immerse myself with information on the places prior to leaving, but I try to avoid firm, preconceived ideas. I strive for both calculation and discovery in my work, keeping my mind open for surprises. At times, I envision images I’d like to capture, but when I actually look through the viewfinder, my mind goes blank and I photograph whatever catches my eye. Photographs I return with are usually different from my original concepts. My photographs reflect both genuine interest in my subject as well as a respect for the element of serendipity, while other times I seek pure beauty. The pure enjoyment of this process drives and inspires me. I believe there’s a thread that connects all of my work — my personal vision of the world as a whole. I make every effort to be a faithful visual recorder of the world around me, a world in flux that, at very least in my mind, deserves preservation.” 

Anatomy of a photography | Hiroshi Watanabe

Can you explain us the idea or the story behind this image?

I was born and raised in Japan. But I was not exposed to Japanese traditional things much and I grew up watching American TV programs and listening to pop/rock music. I did not have much interest in Japanese traditions as a young man.  But after living in the US over two decades, I found myself drawn to Japanese traditional cultures each time I went to Japan.

I do not think it was my understanding of Japanese cultures that got me interested, but it was a foreigner’s eye. I looked at things just like a foreigner looked at things in Japan—with curiosity and fresh look. In the beginning, I felt shy about making “Japonesque” images because I was from there. But I decided to make Japanese portraits very Japanese because I believed that is something unique I can do with my background.

Can you explain us what equipment you used for its realization?

I used my usual camera/lens combination which is Hasselblad 203F with Planner 110mm F2. I use this camera and lens combination 90% of time when I do portrait photos. Even without the camera, I look at the subject with distance and angle that matches the view of this lens and compose the pictures subconsciously. This is how I look at things when I photograph.

What problems and challenges did you face when you took the shot of this image?

Because I was allowed to take photographs only at the day of the performance, I photographed performers between the stage appearances. That meant I had to find a decent size space that is close to the stage where I can set up a makeshift studio with backdrop.

I prefer using natural ambient lights to strobe lights. Natural light gives me more freedom, more variations, and I can concentrate on my subjects while I photograph. Luckily, I was able to find a small flat rooftop near the stage that was surrounded by walls of the theater building. That gave consistent beautiful soft top lights.

We are talking about the postproduction process. How do you get the final result?

I used the film I always use when it comes to b&w.  That was Tri-X 220.  As you know, that film was discontinued in 2010. When it happened, I bought all that were available in the US which was 750 rolls of 220. I still have about 200 rolls left in my freezer and I take out and use them when I work in b&w projects. The film is processed in Jobo ATL 2200 and contact sheets are made. I work in the traditional darkroom and make silver gelatin prints just like old days. Prints are then toned in diluted sepia toner for archival purpose and split-tone-like tonality.

More Stories

I am a woman by Aleksandr Kutsepalov

I am a woman by Aleksandr Kutsepalov

These photos are from the project "I am a WOMAN". Only as we get older do we begin to understand some things that used to seem different. We begin to notice what used to be taken for granted.
Urban Landscapes by Alexis Hernández Romero

Urban Landscapes by Alexis Hernández Romero

Urban Landscapes is an approach to urban black and white photography that tries to capture the beauty, sometimes overlooked, of the city and its moments.
Children as Art by 
Elizabeth Koning

Children as Art by 
Elizabeth Koning

Elizabeth Koning brings to her works elements of this particular style in terms of the 15th century masters and that of landscape painters of the 17th Century.
https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/bannerpr.jpg

We invite you to participate in the first edition of the Portrait Photography Awards. Our call is open to any artistic interpretation of portrait photography.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BAnImage.jpg

ImageRights provides intelligent image search and copyright enforcement services to photo agencies and professional photographers worldwide.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/mono2022.jpg

The best 100 images along with the winning images published in the yearly book “Monochromatic – Best Photographers of 2022”

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/banner24.jpg

Call For Entries #24 | After 23 editions and more than 100 published photographers, our print edition has proven to be a simply effective promotional channel.

Art Performer by Yanika Anukulpun

Art Performer by Yanika Anukulpun

Art Performer is a portraiture project about the unique characteristics of each art performer (singers, musicians, and movie impersonators) on the streets in the United States.
Geometric lines, shapes, patterns and symmetry; Cityscape photography of Jon Deboer

Geometric lines, shapes, patterns and symmetry; Cityscape photography of Jon Deboer

I am a photographer and graphic designer based in Detroit, MI. I moved to the Metro Detroit area in 2006 to attend Lawrence Technological University, and graduated in 2010 with a BFA in Graphic Design
As tu vu ma soeur jumelle? by Olympe Tits

As tu vu ma soeur jumelle? by Olympe Tits

Have you seen my twin sister? So often I’ve pondered upon this question during my childhood years. For so long I believed I lost her in cod death or that she died in the womb.
Festivals of India ; Durga Puja amid Pandemic by Pritam Dutta

Festivals of India ; Durga Puja amid Pandemic by Pritam Dutta

Durga puja in West Bengal is one of the famous festivals of India which witness large public gathering every year. The year 2020 will be remembered for the curse of Corona Virus pandemic. More than 1.2 lakh people have already lost their life in this pandemic. India is among the worst impacted countries.
Looking for own style of expression; The inspiration of Lenka Jesonka

Looking for own style of expression; The inspiration of Lenka Jesonka

I liked to live in my own world of fantasy and imagination, nevertheless looking for own style of expression was a long way. At high school I made some literary works – short stories and later also poems and reflections.
Washington Square Park by Jay Patel

Washington Square Park by Jay Patel

One summer afternoon I walked through a park full of young people. It took me a few visits to observe and absorb the energy around me.
48 Hours Blackpool by Benita Suchodrev

48 Hours Blackpool by Benita Suchodrev

When I mentioned to a fellow photographer that I had booked my accommodation at Blackpool’s Grand Metropole Hotel, he casually replied, “La grande dame from St. Petersburg is visiting Blackpool for an afternoon chat with the seagulls.”
Waiting Girls by Sadegh Souri

Waiting Girls by Sadegh Souri

In Iran, death penalty is given to the children for the crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, and armed robbery. According to the Islamic Penal Law, the age when girls are held accountable for their crimes is 9 years old, while the international conventions have banned the death penalty for individuals under 18.
A neutral place by Franco Sortini

A neutral place by Franco Sortini

Franco Sortini's art is that of a landscape that is the result of a subtle alchemy that combines his vision of the natural environment with his culture, his emotions and his inner feelings.
Dolomites Diary by Stefania Piccioni

Dolomites Diary by Stefania Piccioni

Dolomites are a section of Alps in the north Italy. The Mountains around us of soaring rock spires seemingly suspended above the clouds. The Dolomites are a unique landscape.
The corroders of Alcatraz by Anastasia Sofos

The corroders of Alcatraz by Anastasia Sofos

I see aged structures as store houses which hold history, spirit, experience of all beings and seasons which have passed through them. I viscerally feel this move through me and touch them through my lens. There is something powerful in a structure
Landscapes photography of Michael Bollino

Landscapes photography of Michael Bollino

The world is deeply beautiful. It's really as simple as that. For me, moving through nature is the most direct way to experience this profound beauty, as well as feel the full force of its transformative powers.
The culture in socialist countries; Red Illuminates by Jialin Long

The culture in socialist countries; Red Illuminates by Jialin Long

Red Illuminates, is a multimedia work comprising still and moving images that explores the concept of culture in socialist countries and how loyalty to the state is cultivated.
Art portfolio : Matters Matter by Michel Monteaux

Art portfolio : Matters Matter by Michel Monteaux

Art portfolio : The Matter Matter photographic series presents waste, neglected traces of the common history that lives in us, crushed, swept, thrown, recovered after our passage.
Journalism and Documentary photography; Colin Delfosse

Journalism and Documentary photography; Colin Delfosse

Colin Delfosse (1981, Belgium). Graduated in journalism, he turned to documentary photography in 2007, and became one of the founding members of the Out of Focus collective.
Anatomy of a photograph by Deborah Roffel

Anatomy of a photograph by Deborah Roffel

Deborah studied at the Art Academy Minerva in Groningen, Scenography and Autonomous Art/ Photography. Horses and people, tigers and people, wolves and people, musicians...

Featured Stories

My mum by Viet Van Tran

My mum by Viet Van Tran

I started photographing my mother at the time she became seriously ill, (ten month ago) and continued shooting until my mother will get better, until now. I want to fix some moments forever, not only in my mind and heart, but alsoin a concrete and tangible shape.
A Mad World by Momoko Fritz

A Mad World by Momoko Fritz

About a year and a half ago I created a dinner series called, At Home with Momoko, where I would host 8-10 women once a month.
Rohingya refugees by Joxe Inazio Kuesta

Rohingya refugees by Joxe Inazio Kuesta

We arrived at Teknaf, in the district of Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh) at noon, and that same afternoon we left for the refugee camps. It was raining, and the moto-rickshaw carrying us broke down halfway
Secret garden by Fenqiang Liu

Secret garden by Fenqiang Liu

Secret garden was selected and published in our print edition 21. Spring, many nesting pairs of Great Egrets gather at Kraft Azalea Garden in Central Florida, the United States to begin their nesting rituals. I was inspired to share with the world the beauty of the Great Egrets.
Inside Myanmar Monasteries by Irene Barlian

Inside Myanmar Monasteries by Irene Barlian

Traditions still hold out in the Myanmar’s countryside which has so far been relatively untouched. Myanmar was often seen as among the world’s most isolated nations. Although they had eased it’s 15 years restrictions on tourism, the country remains to be ancient and pure.
Street photography by Joseph Atwere

Street photography by Joseph Atwere

My interest in still photography began in 2007. I bought my first camera which was a Canon 350D whilst on vacation in the US. I had quite a steep learning curve and spent many hours trying to get my head round the basics such as learning about f-stops etc.
So Coney! by David Godichaud

So Coney! by David Godichaud

Coney island isn't only Wonder Wheel and burger shops. It is also and before New York's beach where all communities from Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens are merging during summers to escape the heat.
Collection of portraits; Created Equal by Mark Laita

Collection of portraits; Created Equal by Mark Laita

In America, the chasm between rich and poor is growing, the clash between conservatives and liberals is strengthening, and even good and evil seem more polarized than ever before.
The Orthogenesis of Soul by Sandipan Mukherjee

The Orthogenesis of Soul by Sandipan Mukherjee

We are all aware about the theory of biologically evaluation for Jean Baptist Lamarck. The theory tells about the evaluation of human how the structure of APE has got transferred to the today’s human being.
Dreamland; Tale of the blue pear by Nikolina Petolas

Dreamland; Tale of the blue pear by Nikolina Petolas

Tale of the blue pear; Nikolina Petolas’s project was selected and published in our print edition 16. The series present a search for our own essence, which is embodied in the shape of a pear, in different color and sizes, which can be found in the majority of her artworks.
Lov’yer by Marta Kochanek

Lov’yer by Marta Kochanek

The world witnesses love between people of all nationalities and races. This planet gives room to those attracted to people of the same, opposite and both genders. It is how this world is constructed. It is how it always was.
Photo manipulation by Sulaiman Almawash

Photo manipulation by Sulaiman Almawash

Photo manipulation is a mix of photography and graphic design. Combining lot of elements and create an unique image. It requires lot of creative skills, is a great source for inspiration and its always great fun and joy when you work on particular concept.
Monologue about Chernobyl by Raúl Moreno

Monologue about Chernobyl by Raúl Moreno

A few kilometers from Chernobyl, there is a radioactive atmosphere that can not be seen but can intuit it. Food contaminated by Cesium 137 and Strontium, these inhabitants consume daily making radioactive isotopes are deposited in their bodies gradually.
Paul Eis ; The architecture photographer

Paul Eis ; The architecture photographer

In Paul Eis' Instagram project, he gathers images of buildings from mainly Berlin, Hamburg and some other cities, which are cut of their original context and reworked with bright colors.
Gabriel Isak ; Experiences of the soul

Gabriel Isak ; Experiences of the soul

His imagery entails surreal and melancholic scenes inspired by the inner world of dreams and psychology, where he invites the viewer to interact with the internal world of solitary figures
Matrimonial Ties by John Paul Evans

Matrimonial Ties by John Paul Evans

Matrimonial ties is a project that encompasses varied responses and challenges to the historical and cultural significance of the wedding portrait in western culture.

Trending Stories

Covid 19; Pandemic by Annick Donkers

Covid 19; Pandemic by Annick Donkers

At the beginning of the quarantine in Mexico I felt terrified. I just had my birthday and we joked that it was the last party before the end of the world.
Huésped by Diego Moreno

Huésped by Diego Moreno

I grew up in a family environment where domestic violence is one of the most marked circumstances in my life, the same setback that has made me constantly migrate.
How was your day? by Mano Svanidze

How was your day? by Mano Svanidze

"how was your day?" collects scenes from kindergarten life of children. With this project I show parents what their kids do when they aren't around. I tried to create imaginary space for parents to observe kids and their daily life in an unmonitorred space the kindergarten is.
The state of britain by David Barrett

The state of britain by David Barrett

The state of Britain project was intended to be a study of Americanisation within the UK, however ,The result of the Brexit referendum signaled to me that Britain was about to change more significantly , Britain was about to exchange its liberal European past for a survival of the fittest ”Wild West” culture . 
Five minutes with Philip Faith

Five minutes with Philip Faith

Think less and feel more! The perfect picture does not necessarily mean the perfect pose ! focus on spontaneity, synergy with the model!
Guardian by Yulia Artemyeva

Guardian by Yulia Artemyeva

The village is the cradle of the Russian civilization. This is where it has its roots. It has preserved its primeval soul, pure and simple. Through centuries of building a unique eco-system, it has turned into a self-sufficient organism living by its own rules and customs.
A tale of a 91 years passionate amateur photographer by Sanghamitra Bhattacharya

A tale of a 91 years passionate amateur photographer by Sanghamitra Bhattacharya

I am less famous as photographer in my locality. Two years ago in a day I was surprised by a knocking at the door, an old man with a stick came to introduce himself at my home and asked about my photography.
In the heart of the Omo valley tribes by Benjamin Angel

In the heart of the Omo valley tribes by Benjamin Angel

The Omo Valley, located in the south west of Ethiopia, is home to a number of fascinating tribes, which have kept their traditions and a spectacular appearance. This photographic project  is built around two tribes, the Mursi and the Karo.  All photos have been taken in natural conditions, with the consent of the villagers.
Old Public Housing In Their Pastel Hue by James Teo

Old Public Housing In Their Pastel Hue by James Teo

Architectural photography got James interested in photography in the first place. Buildings and their intricacies - the lines, shapes and patterns.
Project Cleansweep by Dara McGrath

Project Cleansweep by Dara McGrath

Project Cleansweep takes its name from a Ministry of Defence (MoD) report issued in 2011 identifying sites in the UK where tens of thousands of tonnes of mustard gas, phosgene and other lethal chemicals were, since World War 1, made, processed, stored, burned and dumped in England, Wales and Scotland.
Fez Undressed by Alessandro Annunziata

Fez Undressed by Alessandro Annunziata

Fez, in Morocco, the oldest of the four imperial cities, is divided into the new and the old city. Located in a mountainous region, the old town is characterized by the intricate streets, travelled only by people and donkeys, the only way of transport allowed and used by the locals. 
Pascalles, renaissance girl at the circus by Marina Marinkovic

Pascalles, renaissance girl at the circus by Marina Marinkovic

There is only one Dutch tent circus left that travels through the Netherlands all year long. Magic Circus moves to another parking lot or field every couple of days. And Pascalles loves moving.

Other Stories

stay in touch
Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest stories, opportunities, calls and more.
We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use
We’d love to
Thank you for subscribing!
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted.
- Between 10/30 images of your best images, in case your project contains a greater number of images which are part of the same indivisible body of work will also be accepted. You must send the images in jpg format to 1200px and 72dpi and quality 9. (No borders or watermarks)
- A short biography along with your photograph. (It must be written in the third person)
- Title and full text of the project with a minimum length of 300 words. (Texts with lesser number of words will not be accepted)
This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Contact
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Get in Touch
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.