shashasha

Kentaro Kumon's photobook "Smoke and Steam" brings together more than 300 snapshots - mostly ordinary moments, but some extraordinary - taken over the course of a year with an old Olympus Pen FT camera, the first camera Kumon ever used, given to him by his father. Slightly smaller than a postcard, "Smoke and Steam" gently urges the reader to look at each photo up close, nose always buried in the pages. Little by little, Kumon's brilliant sense of the beauty of a moment, coupled with the slightly desaturated colors of the prints, weave a deeply appreciative and reflective atmosphere. When one reaches the afterword, in which Kumon recalls his life, his childhood, his relationship with his father, and the changes that have occurred over time, the series takes on an even deeper perspective.

“In a closet in my parents' home, I found old family pictures and boxes of photos and slides that my father had once taken with the same camera I was using now. It was nice to learn he had an interest that brought him joy, and looking through his photos I noticed that the things he had captured through the viewfinder were strangely similar to my own photos taken with the same camera. It felt as if I had been borrowing my father’s eyes for the past year.
My parents have now moved out and started living in a new apartment nearby. While it was sad having to say goodbye to our family home, I enjoy bringing them gifts and souvenirs from my travels. For now, everything’s good.
My father still spends his days sitting by the window looking out. The windows in the new apartment aren’t as large, and there’s no bridge stretching out into the sea either. All that’s left to see in the window now is the sky.”
― from Kentaro Kumon’s afterword