I've been reading a lot about Hilla and Bernd Becher lately. They use black and white and focus on old blast furnaces, grain elevators, water towers and the like. At first glance they can be quite boring, but their consistency and typology is pretty amazing.
Japan has many similar structures strewn throughout the country which I'd love to visit. On the top of the list, the ghost towns that used to be popular tourist sites. Old
ryokans (Japanese traditional hotels), closed down souvenir shops or theme parks may be worth categorizing and photographing at some point. Maybe by city. Dams, lime works and coal mines have already been done. I found a few things last week that might be at least worth a short series around Tokyo.
For example, the bearded apartment. Tokyo's parks are fighting back! If you happen to see another apartment building infested like this one, please let me know. I think it would make a great series!
A friend told me at one point that supports like this aren't good for the tree in the long run. It becomes dependant on the supports and it eventually weakens the tree. We usually just bow in Japan. Just a reminder to all the tree huggers here.
All photos are the property of Tyler Ensrude at
www.tylerensrude.com
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