Symphony

The book Symphony showcases more than a decade of plant photographs taken by Nobuo Iida in Tokyo parks. Connecting with photography from a very young age with the desire to cap- ture the phenomena happening around him, he started using his current style after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The overall feeling in Japan at that time was anxious and desperate and a few days after wanting to overturn this dark feeling, Iida went outside in a park and was struck by the light reflecting on plants, it was as “numerous ‘suns’ were shining like fireworks or chandeliers”. To capture what he was witnessing, he started using a technique that he had encountered years before. By using the wrong lenses with his camera, he would make the pictures brighter, letting hidden particles of light appear “and melt the plants and the light, integrating mystical nostalgia and joy.” He also often uses self-made filters, but Iida never alters his pictures or uses softwares to modify them.