KOJI ONAKA
MY EKTACHROME
Published by Kaido Book, 2022
Booksize 15.5 x 21.3 cm
Pages, 64 pages
Hardcover
Limited edition of 500
Koji Onaka's “My Ektachrome” came into being when the photographer rediscovered a number of his photographs shot all over Japan between 1996 and 1999. In this rare period, Onaka shot on positive slide film (Kodak Ektachrome) before eventually adopting color negative film for his work. True to Onaka's style, these photographs – of street corners in small towns, mom-and-pop shops, blurry animals, back alleys with playing children, old shopping malls and sunny hills and mountains – exude a strange, inescapable sense of nostalgia. But as with previous works, it is a warm, productive kind of nostalgia that nudges the viewer to imagine phantom backstories for all these borrowed personal moments, encounters and places.
“Back in 1996 in my mid-thirties, after publishing DISTANCE, a high-contrast B&W photobook, there was a stretch when I was shooting with both B&W negative and positive color films. After a while I encountered negative color films and naturally, I said goodbye to B&W and positive films. Recently I found a lot of positive films from those days that I had forgotten about and I cut out the frames that I thought were good and set them aside as my first check, and now that I couldn't find those shots preliminary checked as the important ones, I thought that maybe it was destined to happen. So, moving forward, I copied the remaining photos with a digital camera.”
― from Koji Onaka's afterword
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Koji Onaka’s “My Ektachrome” came about when the photographer rediscovered a number of his photographs taken around Japan between 1996 and 1999. During this rare period, Onaka used positive slide film (Kodak Ektachrome) before adopting color negative film for his work. True to Onaka’s style, these photographs—of small-town street corners, mom-and-pop shops, blurred animals, alleys filled with children playing, old shopping malls, and sun-drenched hills and mountains—exude a strange and inescapable sense of nostalgia. But as in the earlier works, it is a warm and productive nostalgia that prompts the viewer to imagine ghost stories for all these personal moments, encounters, and borrowed places.
"In 1996, in my mid-thirties, after publishing DISTANCE, a book of high-contrast B&W photographs, I used B&W negative and color positive films for a while. After a while, I encountered color negative films and naturally said goodbye to B&W and positive films. Recently, I found a lot of positive films from that period that I had forgotten about and I cut out the frames that seemed good and set them aside for my first check, and now that I couldn't find those shots that I had previously checked as the most important, I thought that maybe it was fate. So, to move forward, I copied the remaining photos with a digital camera."
- excerpt from Koji Onaka