序文　Plorogue                                    

*English follows Japanese
　今号のゲストの梁丞佑（ヤン・スンウー）氏は異色のドキュメンタリー写真家といってよいかもしれない。氏は1966年に韓国全羅北道の井邑に生まれた。1996年来日。日本写真専門学校、東京工芸大学を卒業しているが、驚いたのは写真については日本に来てから興味を持ち、写真家の道を選んだという話であった。表現行為として一人でやれるからというのが理由であったらしい。今回の写真のテーマになっているのは、高校時代の友人の生と死の追憶である。その友人は高校生の時に殺傷事件を起こし８年懲役に服したが、出所後も世間と折り合いがつかず縊死した。ここに写っているのは関係のあった大田のヤクザたちの姿である。ヤクザにもなりきれず死んだ不発の青春であったが、梁氏にとっては無二の親友だった。本人は直接写ってはいないが、その周辺を記録し追想した映像群である。梁氏は韓国で言う「386世代」に属する。つまり30代で80年代の民主化運動の時代を過ごした60年代生まれということだが、独特の屈折があるようである。氏は中学生のときに光州に向かう戦車の列を見たことを語っていた。（1980年光州事件）。氏の写真の特色を述べると、被写体の懐に入るスタンスのうまさである。氏にはすでに『君はあっちがわ僕はこっちがわ』（新風舎2006年）という写真集がある。東京のホームレスたちを撮った写真だが、類書と異なるのは、すべて当人たちから直筆のコメントをもらっていることである。今回の写真の展示のときにも何人かがギャラリーを訪れ、親しげに談笑していた。これは撮影者とのあいだによほどの信頼関係がなければありえないことである。また氏の手製のフィリピンの写真集も見せてもらったが、１週間で撮影したという話が信じられないほど密着している。あの国で外国人が銃を持った男を笑わせるなどなかなかできる芸ではない。このまま埋もらせるには惜しいので、どこかで取り上げてほしいものである。既刊の写真集の方は不幸にも版元が倒産してしまったが、本誌で扱っているので買っていただければありがたい（2100円）。抜群の力量を持ったドキュメンタリー写真家として将来が嘱望される。なおチングとは友人のこと。

　唐仁原信一郎氏の「YOKOSUKA」は私が彼に課したテーマである。写真には言い方は悪いが激戦区といえる場所があり、広島、沖縄などとともに横須賀もそのひとつだ。すでに東松照明、森山大道、石内都らの作品がある。これでは撮りにくいことこのうえないが、街は時代によって変貌するものであるし、同じリングに上がって勝負するのも面白いではないかというわけだ。その結果は読者の判断にまかせるしかないだろう。

　藤原敦氏の「跡」シリーズは今号で終了する。10月30日（金）から11月8日（日）まで新宿の蒼穹舎ギャラリーで写真展が開かれるので覗いてみていただきたい。編集長としては次の展開を楽しみにしているが、「跡」が方法論が勝った映像だっただけに、今後の写真には熟慮が要求されるだろう。

　服部雅人氏は1977年東京生まれ。あらかじめ言っておくと、これは偽名である。小説家ならペンネームは普通のことだが、写真家では珍しい。何か不都合があって（弾圧される？）のことではなく、遊び心らしいから意のとおりにした。氏にはすでに温泉をテーマにした優れた写真集があるから、写真をよく見ている人なら誰かすぐわかるであろう。しかし、氏の変身願望は念が入っていて、嘘のプロフィールまで作ってきたので、面白いからそのまま載せる。＜1974年岩手県生まれ。高校卒業後、各地を放浪。様々な職を転々とする。現在は東京都在住。電気工事士。主な個展に「カメレオン」「ポーカーフェイス」「狼少年」「現世は夢」「浮き雲」などがある＞。いやおかしい。本当にそんな写真があるのならぜひ見たいものである。

長谷川明

Introduction

Mr. Yang Seungwoo, guest for this issue, is a unique documentary photographer. He was born in Jeong eup, North Jeolla Province in Korea and he moved to Japan in 1996. He graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic University, photography college, however, what is surprising is that he grew interested in photography and decided to pursue it as his career only after he moved to Japan. The reason for choosing photography was because it was something he could do by himself. The theme for the photos in this issue is life and death of his friend from high school. His friend was involved in an assault and battery case during his high school years and spent 8 years in jail. He could not handle the outside world after he got out of jail and he was hanged to death at the end. The people you see in photos are yakuza(mafia) inDaejeon that he was associated with. His friend did not even succeed in becoming a proper yakuza(mafia) member, nonetheless he was Yang's best friend and his being was simply irreplaceable. The best friend is not in the photos, but those photos are meant to be a tribute and the record of the past time and the surroundings. Mr. Yang belongs to what is called "386 generation" in Korea. He is in his 30s and born in the the sixties and has witnessed the time era of democratization back in eighties. This generation is said to have a very distinctive inflection. He told me that he saw a group of tanks heading towards Kwangju when he was a junior high school student. (Kwangju Massacre in 1980.) What is outstanding about his photos is his approach and ability to step into the heart of his shooting subject. He has published a photo book called "You are on that side, I'm on this side" (Shingpoosha, 2006). This book features photos of homeless people in Tokyo and this book is different from other similar books in the way that he has directly received first-person comment from all of those people. Some came to visit him at the last exhibitionand they were conversing in friendly manner. This is a sign of established trust between photographer and his models. He also showed me his hand-made photo book taken in Philippines. His photos suggested the close relationship between him and the people he was shooting there. I could not believe that all photos were taken in just one week. It is far from easy to take smiles out of men holding guns in Philippines. This talent shall not be buried and I hope these photos will see the light of day soon somewhere. Unfortunately, his photobook is no longer available, either, as the publisher went bankrupt, however, the book is still available through us. (2,100 yen) I foresee his bright futureas a documentary photographer with outstanding talent. Ching refers to his friend, by the way.

It was I, who assigned the theme of "YOKOSUKA" to Mr. Shin-ichiro Tojimbara. It may not sound proper, but some locations are considered as "battle ground" for photo shoots.Hiroshima, Okinawa to name a few and Yokosuka is also one of them. Works onYokosuka have been done by Shomei Tomatsu, Daido Moriyama and Miyako Ishiuchiand so on. It means that it is so difficult to shoot in this location, however, cities change overtime and I thought it would be interesting to fight in the same ground. The results are left to the readers to decide.

"Trace" series by Mr. Atsushi Fujiwara will be concluded in this issue. There will be photo exhibition at Sokyusha Gallery in Shinjuku from October 30th (Fri) to November 8th (Sun), so please come down. As an editor, I am looking forward to seeing his next approach. Since "Trace" took more of a conceptual, strategic approach, his future works will require careful considerations.

Masato Hattori was born in 1977 in Tokyo. Let me make this clear first; this is not his real name. Writers often use different names, but it is rare for photographers. This is not to avoid any sort of convenience so to say, but this just comes from playful mind, so I decided to go with it. He has an excellent photo book of hot springs in the past, so if you are familiar with photos, maybe you could easily tell who he is. His desire to pretend being someone else has gone so far and he even created fake profile.I found it quite amusing, so I will post it here. <Born in Iwate-Prefecture in 1974. Traveled to many places after graduating from high school.Experienced various jobs. Currently living in Tokyo. Electrical worker. His past exhibitions include "Chameleon", "Poker Face", "Wolf-Child", "Life is but a dream", "Floating clouds", etc.> Very interesting. If there are such photos, I would really like to see them.

Akira Hasegawa