2015 / Architecture / Buildings (Non-Pro)

Slow Sand Filter

  • Photographer
    Nobuhisa Kataoka

I grew up near Yodobashi in Shinjuku and liked its skyscrapers since my childhood. I always felt accepted by these buildings. The area used to have a big water purification plant. With its slow sand filtering system, it served the water needs of the people from 1898. However, the water plant was closed in 1965 and replaced with skyscrapers, as a part of the Shinjuku redevelopment project to make it a Tokyo metropolitan city center. I feel Yodobashi is still serving as a filter function in current days, by purifying visitors' hearts. So I photographed this town from that perspective.

life. Questioning reality removes my prejudice and puts myself in a neutral viewpoint. By trying so and taking photographs, I think I can redefine the "true" world. We tend to be buried in our daily lives, taking many things for granted, seeing nothing unusual, and not doubting what is out there. However, I believe, our world is made up of multilateral layers and there always exists another perspective and you can see it once you free yourself. It will be my life work to find such perspective through photography.