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Plain:Talking about how Muraoka and I met, he was one of the first to interview me when I published my "POOL" photo book, and I think that was the first time we met, in "relax".

Muraoka:Yes, that's right. A little after Hitoshi Okamoto-san quit, "relax".

Plain:The first time I published my first photo book on swimming pools , I was interviewed.

Muraoka:We've known each other for over 10 years.

Plain:So this time, rather than talking to you, I would like to answer your questions.

Muraoka:We usually have a rather close relationship, but when we do an interview, we can have a very serious conversation. I recently introduced the new "Los Angeles Car Club" (LACC) in "Brutus," and we had dinner in Matsue and did the interview, and it went rather well. It's been about 10 years since you published these three photo books, right?

Plain:Yes . The pool is 2005, so 11 years to be exact.

Muraoka:. three books out of the blue after a gap of 11 years. In between, there were books by Minamoto Hoshino, a photo book by Mikako Tabe, and other lesser-known works, which are also very good books. I think that the reason why we had to publish a book like this is because we felt that it was necessary to write a book in order to put it all together, so it would be nice to know what that was about.　I hope you can understand why. Did you happen to release three books this year?

Plain:Yes, that's right. . I never thought that I would collect them all at once this year, it just happened. I had been thinking in my mind that I had to do it, but I am rather slow. I guess I had to fire myself up, and when I was motivated to do this or that, I had to get all the things I had been accumulating out all at once.

Muraoka:Each of these three books was published in a different way. Boku to Senpai" was published by Shobunsha, a publishing company, as a compilation of the series in the Magazine House magazine "Popeye. LACC" was self-published, and I consulted with the publishers on everything, including the binding. The Kings" was published by Elvis Press, a small publishing house in Nagoya, after I asked a bookstore called "Only Reading" to publish the book. I feel that you must have thought deeply about the different ways of publishing, but did you think about each of them separately?

Plain:In the past, I published "POOL" through a publisher called Little More. This time, "LACC" was self-published, "The Kings" was published by an indie bookstore label, and "Boku to Senpai" was a photo essay that was serialized for 3 years in Popeye magazine of Magazine House, and it would have been appropriate to publish it through Magazine House, but there were various company circumstances and decisions to make. .... I thought it would be a beautiful way to put the essay together if I interviewed my father at the end of the Series and asked him to do the bookbinding, and then published it through Shobunsha.

Muraoka:First of all, speaking individually, did you decide to interview your father last?

Plain:I had decided that I was going to do the interview itself, but I hadn't really decided if it would be the last one or not. Since it was a monthly Series, I offered to interview various seniors each month, but I didn't know if they would say yes, and since it was a Series in which I was unfamiliar with writing, when the editorial department asked me, "How about this senpai?" I was not sure if they would say yes, and since this was a series in which I was not used to writing, I could not write if I did not have any feelings at all for that senior. Therefore, I was worried that I would not be able to write about a senior without interviewing him beforehand. So, I decided to save my father's name for a time when I was in a pinch to choose the right person. . and fortunately, I managed to interview the seniors every month and didn't have to make a white page in the magazine, so I was able to keep my father until the end, so he was the last one....

Muraoka:As a writer, I don't like the fact that Taro's writing is so good in this book (laughs), but when I read Taro's writing, I can really understand what he is thinking about as a photographer. For example, when you go to see a baseball player, if you are a writer, you would have to ask him what he is doing right now.　For example, when you go to see a baseball player, if you are a writer, you tend to interview him about what he is doing right now. I would want to write down everything I heard, and I would want to make the text as informative as possible. But with Taro's writing, all he writes is what he has caught on to. For example, how Mr. Shinozuka, a former Giants player, showed up, played catch, and left, and how I put on my Giants hat. But I think it conveys the message better that way, and I can really understand how you cut it up that way.

Plain:I abandoned that aspect from the beginning (laughs). I knew that I would never be able to interview the person, draw out their charms, and write about them. I knew that I would never be able to do that. It was a short time, I would have to take pictures, and I didn't think I had the ability to do that in the first place, so I had no choice but to write about my impressions and feelings and the impressions I had when I actually met him or her.

Muraoka:What is your stance on photography?

Plain:I have an excuse. Before the "Boku to Senpai" series started, I bought a very inconvenient camera called "Makina 67 (Roku Nana)" on purpose. The angle of view is a bit off from what you see in the viewfinder. In other words, you can't take the exact picture you want to take. I can't control it completely, so I have to use the camera's characteristics to take the picture. So I used that as an excuse, or a weapon, to say that I couldn't take a good picture, or that it was OK even if I couldn't take a good picture (laughs). (Laughs) I thought it was impossible to bring out the charms that the senior photographers didn't know about, so I applied the same excuse to the camera as well, like, the focus is a little blurry, I can't get a good close-up.... That's how I tried to get away with it (laughs).

Muraoka:Does the Makina 67 take good pictures?

Plain:Yup . It has a unique sharpness, and I can take pictures with a little more contrast than I have been taking in the past. Also, the subject being photographed with this camera seems to be more relaxed than with a DSLR, which has a huge lens that spins and whirrs.

Muraoka:I usually shoot with a "Pentax 67", but I think you once told me when I was present at a photo shoot that it sounded great, but not even that loud?

Plain:Yes . The shutter sound is like a "click" and you can't tell at all. I have prepared a lot of tricks like that myself.

Muraoka:You don't want to get too "tight" with them, do you?　Are you afraid of losing?

Plain:. you mean you can't be so full of it every month. If you are interested in a person and have interviewed him or her for years and gone to many photo shoots, of course that would be a good way to go, but if I were to get involved every month, I would be swallowed up by the amazing lives of these people, and it would be presumptuous of me to talk about the lives of my seniors. I don't want to talk about my seniors' lives.

Muraoka:You don't really think of it as an interview?

Plain:. not at all. We chat while shooting, or listen to what the accompanying editor is saying beside us, and so on. It's all about the individual, though.

Muraoka:The angle of view is Rokunana and the other...

Plain:All of these are lokunanas.

Muraoka:Ah, it's all Lokunana . The choice of people is easy to understand, after all, who are your influences?

Plain:Yes, that's right. Of course, there are also some good introductions from editors, and I sometimes go there based on those.

Muraoka:Taro-san has been playing Herabuna since he was a little boy, and you see his father, a competitor in the elementary school Herabuna tournament at that time, is in the magazine.

Plain:Yes, that's right. I thought I was going to avenge him with this (laughs), but I still lost.

Muraoka:. You are going there for the act of playing pole with the father of that rival, aren't you? Playing catch with a baseball player, for example, shows the fun of using a magazine Series to do what you want to do, and then publishing the result in a book.

Plain:I see. It is true that I am allowed to do what I want. There are professional fishermen in the world, especially those who catch only a certain species of crucian carp called crucian carp, and I am a professional fisherman. This senior was the first one to write the text. . It's almost all done in advance. After we finished filming, we fished together with the boat right next to ours, and he gave me some bait, which was really good.

Muraoka:They even say that it takes three years to make helabranch bait. . If I had not gone through Mr. Taro, I would have never known about him.

Plain:I don't know how they got permission for "Popeye" (laughs).

Muraoka:Personally, he was the most interesting. . because he doesn't come out. I think it's because I compiled the magazine's Series that I've been able to relax like this. . If I had planned to make a book from the beginning, I probably wouldn't have included it in the book. . I think it's nice to make a book out of a magazine series, like this.

Plain:I had never thought of it that way. . but maybe you're right. When I decide to make a book like this, I feel like I would only go to seniors who are known by everyone.

Muraoka:. The pictures show people, of course, but they are also kind enough to give us some idea of what is going on around them.

Plain:Well, yes. It's a magazine, so maybe there is a little bit of that feeling. . I'm also taking pictures of the exterior of the house that this Yelka Wein lives in, and I thought it would be better to have something like that. . Because that's how I feel.

Muraoka:But as can be said for the Elvis book and "LACC", there is a magazine-like or editorial perspective that characterizes you as a photographer. He takes pictures without being told to.

Plain:Yes, that's right. For this Series, in particular, the layout was decided, with one large photo and four small ones each month, so I thought about how I would lean in and out while shooting, and how this would be the main focus. I thought about how this would be the main focus of the magazine, and I thought about how I would pull it in closer as I was taking the pictures.

Muraoka:Can you tell when you take a picture that this is the main thing?

Plain:I kind of get it. . but sometimes it's not the same when you get up there.

Muraoka:And these are some of the things I'm missing?

Plain:Yes.

Muraoka:For example, in this picture of a cab (top center), if you read the story in the book, do you know why the picture of the cab is included, and what it means?

Plain:The store is located not in the center of Fukuoka, but a few train stops away from the center of the city. So I wanted to give the shop a sense of being off the beaten path.

Muraoka:It's kind of nice to have something like that in the air. With your father, did you go to talk to him rather than to take pictures?

Plain:No, we talk and stuff, just everyday conversation.

Muraoka:Like, let's go out for dinner?　He was in a parent-child feature in "Brutus" and had a discussion with his father about child-rearing. They are kind of similar, in that they are kind of cool. So you and your father didn't go head-to-head at that time?

Plain:Yes , I am. I'm working through this project, just like the others.

Plain:This is Mr. Watanabe. That was really interesting.

Muraoka:It's kind of like being a TV person.

Plain:Yes, that's right. Oh, this , the picture on the right is already at Mr. Watanabe's service. Did you get the shot?" And then he says, "Well, I'll lift up this wai-chair," and then he says, "This wai-chair is nice. You are talking to me properly, right? What really surprised me was that Mr. Watanabe's car arrived right in front of the house, but the crew already had the camera ready before it arrived, and when Mr. Watanabe got out and looked at the building and said, "Wow..." the camera was already rolling. . I was so surprised. I went to the meeting time, which was just when the recording was about to start, and I arrived almost at the same time as Mr. Watanabe, and he was already rolling! I was like, "It's already rolling! It was really amazing.

Muraoka:Why was it Mr. Watanabe in the first place?

Plain:I love "Tatemono Sansha" (TV program), and the time slot has changed a lot so far, but it used to be on at about 10:30 in the morning, and I used to love watching it at 10:30 in the morning. Well, he's like my favorite uncle (laughs) , square-cropped and bearded. I really like his voice, and he seems like the ideal uncle.

Muraoka:. like this Elvis book, I guess I kind of like uncles after all. For example, there are all kinds of grandfathers, right?

Plain:That may be so. I grew up fishing for coleoptera, and fishing for coleoptera involves a lot of time spent with your uncle. I was in elementary school, and I was surrounded by my uncle every week, so I guess I feel very much at home with him.

Muraoka:(As for Mr. Hirano's background), he said that before he was a skater, he fished for coelenterates.

Plain:Yes, that's right. That's what this Series is about, isn't it? Popeye may not be looking for something like that (laughs).

Muraoka:But I wonder if that is actually connected to the sense of stillness, with the skaters coming after the helabana.

Plain:I think you may be right. Nice uncle senior, nice.