Ross Togashi's Osanpo Photography

January 21, 2009-February 28, 2009
Location: Elevator Gallery

Artist Statement:

Somewhere, very possibly in a library, I read about the French term flâneur. Around the same time I was also introduced to the Japanese word osanpo (???).

These terms relate closely to my current photographic efforts - that is, the exploration of my surroundings while out on short walks, and the subsequent discoveries I've made through the camera.

My instrument of choice is the pinhole camera. With the tiniest of aperture it records images with an infinite depth-of-field and wide-angle view, but requires extended exposure times to allow light to accumulate on the film. Its glass-less "lens" documents the scene in a gentle soft-focus.

Rather than capturing a single moment or a "snapshot", as in some types of conventional photography, the pinhole camera uniquely records time and space across many seconds, and often reveals them in a dreamlike and ephemeral way.