Will Robb Photography

Over the next few weeks I don’t have much time to go out shooting as I have 500 images to edit and caption (explain what’s in the photo, write down data on where and when the photo was taken etc) in addition to trying to plug myself to other people. Going to be burning the candle at both ends, so most of my blogs will be of shots I’ve taken earlier on this year.

In the Spring I did a job for Manami Okazaki at the Japan Times. She was interviewing a guy called Gen Hidemori who was an ex-thug who turned over a new leaf later on in life. Manami’s story at the link before is well worth reading, she got a great insight into his life and the piece makes for an excellent read. It explains how he grew up in a violent household in Osaka, the son of an illegal Korean immigrant father and he didn’t really know his mother. He was subject to his fathers violent whims and he himself became involved in violence as a child, was arrested on numerous occasions, became a loan shark amongst other things and used violence to get his way. Then a few years backed he misinterpreted the results of a blood test he had and thought he was dying of HIV which was enough to prompt him to change his ways. He felt he had been a bad guy all his life, so time to turn over a new leaf and do some good. He’s never looked back since then. Now he runs the Japan Social Minority Center, an NPO group based in the red light area of Kabukicho in Shinjuku. He provides help for people with debts to yakuza, he shelters women running away from violent homes and has become quite famous in Japan for the books he has published on the subject (including a manga style comic of his actions), the proceeds of which all go into his shelter that he runs with a small handful of volunteers.

He was a really interesting guy to meet. His “hardness” was apparent, but he hid it well with a smile. There was no messing about with this guy, he has been threatened by pimps and yakuza on many occasions, he knows violence inside out and it’s part of his everyday life, it doesn’t faze him at all.

However, he wasn’t the most photogenic guy in the world. Manami had told me about this in advance. We were sitting in his office interviewing him and he was sitting there arms constantly folded and very aware of the camera, every time he looked my way his posture seemed to stiffen and the shots just weren’t coming. Sometimes you photograph someone and you have enough material in a 30 second burst and you can relax as you know you have what you need. Not with Gen, during his 30 minute interview it was the same stiff poses. In those situations you have to think of something to brighten up the portraits with. We were smack bang in the middle of the red light area, so I decided to take him outside and photograph him under the neon, arms still folded across his chest, looking pretty tough but with a much better background which added a bit to the picture, giving a sense of the world he was a part of. In the end, it worked out well. Not an easy man to photograph, but a really worthwhile person to meet.