Masafumi Sanai

May 5, 2020

So it seems that my attempt at a ‘loose shooting’ style was a little too loose, and instead of creating images that are raw in nature and embody the ‘anti-aesthetic,’ I’ve just created images that are crap (and not “good crap” - a term that I use to describe this aesthetic in a positive way.) There is definitely an art to capturing the kind of image that I was aiming to take, but I am not yet sure exactly how to do that. For now, I will further research the work of other artists, and try to mimic the way they shoot loosely.

The work of Masafumi Sanai falls into this style of photography. There is a definite snapshot feel to the images, but at the same time they are interesting and intriguing (more so when viewed as a whole, in my opinion.) They seem unplanned and un-staged. Sometimes they are not in focus. They just have this authenticity, and a certain air about them that is hard to describe in words. I think the fact that they aren’t highly polished, and seem to be shot from the hip (or with limited thought toward composition) give them an authenticity and accessibility. I need to work out how I can emulate this in my own work, and turn my ”crap crap” images into “good crap.”