Kyoto Journal #84 features photos by, and an interview with, Naoyuki Ogino.  His photos are delicate and subtle, including shots of Kyoto and elsewhere that eschew flash for natural light that doesn't fully reveal faces and makes me think of Tanizaki's, "In Praise of Shadows".  The imagination is freed to fill in gaps.  In the interview he talks about yin and yang, and how modern society has been destroying the yin (that which is in darkness or not visible) while focusing inordinately on yang.  How darkness is seen as bad.  I am struck by his answer to the question of what advice he would give to other photographers.

" I would say don't rush, because if you are young, it's very rare that you have already established your own philosophy or your own eyes.  Everybody has their own philosophy, but we need time to identify its nature.  It's nobody's but yours.  The world thinks it needs to be in a hurry, so education is based on speed.  Society wants people who are easy to handle.  So you start to rush things, even if you don't intend to, and start moving toward the 'yang' part, even if you were looking for 'yin.'  You use a flash, because you want to see 'invisible' things.  You show it to people, and say, "Look, this is the invisible part!"  But is it really still the invisible part?  So from this point of view, my work is very fragile.  Speed can be a very dangerous thing." 

"If you're young and want to become a photographer, it's good to experience many things.  The important thing is that you can't learn the things that you want to see from anybody else.  In the same way you listen to your body, asking, "What do you want to eat today?" you need to listen to your nature.  If you don't, you will be stuck in true darkness and lose the ability to realize the darkness."

"There are many lost people in the world.  They like chaotic work, because they feel the same thing inside of them.  If you want to be a part of that chaos, to be disconnected from your nature, and if you want to be surrounded by lost people, and you are happy with that, then you should do so.  Become a refugee from yourself.  But if you want to find your truth, you need to find your own unique place.  Sometimes it's not a very prestigious place, and you may have to arrive there alone.  But once you find it, your life will be more peaceful."