ABOUT
ENGLISH 日本語
Takeda Takeshi - Photographer
After traveling around Australia by myself at the age of 20 and starting my career as a freelance photographer at the age of 26, I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel to various countries and regions around the world. I have been fortunate enough to travel to various countries and regions around the world, especially to China, where he spent the first five years of his life as a documentary photographer for an academic research team, and after becoming independent, I continued to travel for more than 20 years while working on my own photography projects, staying for a total of 1,000 days.
I believe that there is an ultimate affinity between "travel" and "photography". For example, "travel" is an endless expanse, while "photography" is a step-by-step trail of thought. In the same way that every experience of travel blurs the boundary between will and chance, photography is like a mirror that reflects the world and ourselves as we blend into it.
By repeatedly traveling, taking photographs, and compiling books, I have experienced the inner feeling of "when a journey ends, a new world is born" many times and in many ways.
Since the Corona disasters, it has become increasingly difficult for me to go on a "trip," but I would like to complete some "travel stories" by putting together the work I have done so far. Stay tuned to see what story I end up with!
March,2021
Takeshi Takeda
Photo Ishii Mayumi
Takeda Takeshi
Born in Kyoto in 1974. Lives and works in Tokyo. Graduated from the Faculty of Theology, Doshisha University. While at university, he took a year off to wander around the Australian continent with a single-lens reflex camera. After returning to Japan, he worked as a photographer's assistant and spent five years from 1997 as a documentary photographer for the Japan-China joint research project "The Search for Yangtze River Civilization" (sponsored by the International Research Center for Japanese Studies). In 2001, he began his career as a freelance photographer, working mainly for magazines, advertisements, and bridal wear, while continuing to travel to China and Asia as his life's work. In particular, he has traveled extensively in the southwest region of China, which is considered to be the root of Japanese culture, and continues to record scenes of daily life that are being lost due to rapid economic development. He is a regular member of the Japan Professional Photographers Society (JPS) and a visiting professor at the Huaguang Academy of Photography.
Awards
2010 Konica Minolta FOTO PREMIO Grand Prize
2014 Kyoto Prefecture Culture Award Encouragement Prize
2019 Huaguang Photography Biennial Exhibition Outstanding Photographer, China
Books
"The Search for the Yangtze River Civilization" - 2004
"The Great Yangtze River - In Search of Asia's Original Landscape" - 2005
"Journey along the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail" - 2010
"Siddhartha's Journey" (with Hermann Hesse) - 2013
"Memoirs of Peachland: Ten Years with the People of Vasha Village" - 2015
Solo Exhibitions
1996 aa! , Gallery Maronie, Kyoto
1998 Natural Light, Honenin, Kyoto
2006
The Great Yangtze River - A Journey of 6300km, Ginza Nikon Salon, Tokyo
The Great Yangtze River - In Search of Asia's Original Landscape, Kyoto Prefectural Museum of Culture, Kyoto
The Great Yangtze River - In Search of Asia's Original Landscape, Hanshin Department Store Art Gallery, Osaka
2009 Journey along the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail, Baroque Cafe Heikinritsu, Tokyo
2010
Journey along the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail, Konica Minolta Gallery, Tokyo
Journey along the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail, Muchakucha (Chinese Tea House), Osaka
Journey along the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail, Gallery Koto, Kyoto
Journey along the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail, Shizuoka Granship, Shizuoka
Journey along the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail, Wakayama International House, Wakayama
2014
Dedicated to Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha's Journey, Kyoto Prefectural Museum of Culture, Kyoto
Dedicated to Hermann Hesse: Siddhartha's Journey, Konica Minolta Gallery, Tokyo
2017
A Year in Vasha Village, Konica Minolta Gallery, Tokyo
A Year in Vasha Village, Gallery Koto, Kyoto
A Year in Vasha Village, Doshisha Junior and Senior High School Alumni Association Special Exhibition, The Westin Miyako Hotel, Kyoto