Kishin Kaidan｜Shomei Tomatsu pt.3 I “The Pencil of the Sun” Is a Youthful Work, Too
Kishin Kaidan｜Shomei Tomatsu pt.3 is now live.
pt.3 stays with the question that’s been building since the opening pages: what changes, what doesn’t, and where “youth” lives in a photographer’s work.
Shinoyama presses Tomatsu on the shift from the VIVO-era intensity of “Occupation” and “Home” to the quieter tone he feels in The Pencil of the Sun. Tomatsu pushes back—fast—turning the question around and asking Shinoyama when he himself changed, and why.
The chapter becomes a tight exchange about making photographs versus letting something exceed the frame, and about what it means to “change” on purpose: not as a soft drift, but as a deliberate attempt to surpass one’s previous self.
The members-only version has now been updated through pt.3, and includes:
- the original Japanese text of the interview
- a full English translation
- a full Traditional Chinese translation
