東京下町スナップ！

Street Snap in Tokyo’s Traditional Downtown!

こんにちわ。クドーコーヘイです。

皆さんは普段どこで写真を撮っていますか？ストリートスナップを嗜んだいる方でしたら渋谷、新宿、銀座など都心が多い事かと思います。僕自身も上記のエリアに行くことがほとんどです。そこで今日は気分を変えて下町と言われるエリアにスナップしに行こうと思います。

Hello everyone, I am Kohei Kudo. 

By the way, where do you usually shoot street snap? I think Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Ginza seem to be great shooting spots in Japan. Even I usually go to those places in most cases when I want to shoot. However, there are only areas where we can take good photos in Tokyo. This time, I will change my mind and go to an area which is called traditional downtown in Tokyo.

１ 下町ってどこ？

１ Where is Traditional Downtown in Tokyo ?

下町行こうと言いましたが、実際にどこら辺のことを言うのでしょうか？

代表的な地域は日本橋、京橋、神田、下谷、浅草、本所、深川といった低地のエリアみたいです。その外にも蒲田、大森などの城南地区にも同等の扱いを受けるエリアがあり、明確な定義はなさそうでした。

ざっくり、皇居あたりを境に西側の高級住宅街や高層ビル街を山の手、東側の義理と人情あふれる昔ながらの地域を下町としときましょう。

I said I would go to downtown, but where is traditional downtown in Tokyo exactlly?

Typical areas are lowland areas, such as Nihonbashi, Kyobashi, Kanda, Shimotani, Asakusa, Honjo, and Fukagawa. 

Besides that, it seems that the areas on the south side of the 23 wards, such as Kamata and Omori are also defined as traditional downtown areas. There seems to be no clear definition of where is traditional downtown area.

It is hard to define, but it seems that luxury residential area and skyscrapers area on the west side of the Imperial Palace are called Yamanote, and the traditional area on the east side is called downtown. This time, I would like to introduce a place that everyone knows, but you don't go so often.

２ 今回の使用機材

２Camera and Setting

特にあてもなく彷徨う予定なので機材は軽めにしようと思います。

はい、GR２です。カメラの設定はこちら、

・スナップモード２．５ｍ（置きピン仕様）

・F１１前後とSS５００前後

・ISO１００~３２００

・イメージコントロールはポジフィルム調

・RAW+JPEG

・画面付けっぱなしなのでバッテリー３個

This time, I decided to use Ricoh GR Ⅱ wichi is very light and easy to shoot because I am going to walk around without no destination. My setting is below. 

・ Snap Mode 2.5m 

・ Around F11 and SS 500 

・ ISO 100-3200

・ Chose Posifilm Filter 

・ Raw ＋JPEG 

・Always turn on the power and carry 3 additional batteries

３下町スナップの楽しみ方　

3 How to Enjoy Street Snap in Traditional Downtown in Tokyo

今回の撮影地は墨田区です。東京スカイツリーでおなじみのこの地域は昔ながらの住宅地や商店街が点在しています。押上駅をスタートしてスカイツリー周辺の街をスナップしていこうと思います。ちなみに今日は曇りです。光と影を使った印象的な写真を撮るのは難しいです。街を人をよく観察して色んな視点で撮影しようと思います。

(注)この記事は街紹介ではありません。あくまでストリートスナップの記事である事を理解の上ご覧ください。

I chose Oshigami, Sumida ward for shooting spot this time. This area is very familiar as a tourist spot that visitors can see Tokyo Sky Tree, old and traditional shopping streets, temples and houses. I am going start shooting from Oshiage Station then move to the town around Tokyo Sky Tree. By the way, the weather is cloudy and it might be difficult to take impressive photos with light and shadow. Observe people in this area and shoot with different types of perspectives. 

⚠︎ This article is not about tourist spots, and I am going to write about street snap in traditional downtown in Tokyo. 

①スカイツリー周辺

せっかく来たので高いところに行こうと思います。しかし、残念ながらスカイツリーは営業自粛の為上ることできず・・・（←最初から上る気なし）

しかないので隣接するショッピングセンターの３０Fから定番の１枚。

① Shoot Around Tokyo Sky Tree 

I wanted to go up Tokyo Sky Tree to take photos from higher points, but it was closed because of Coronavirus. Therefore, I went to a tall shopping center near Tokyo Sky Tree, went up to 30th floor and shoot some photos. They were quite nice because I shoot them from shadow. When you shoot in shadow and toward bright area, you will be able to capture nice silhouette!

そして１Fに降りて周辺を散策していると見つけちゃいました！

都心ほど人が多くないのでこんな人がいると一瞬で目を奪われます。

何をしているかはご想像にお任せします。

Went back to the street and started walking around Tokyo Sky Tree. I encountered a man who was sitting and doing something interesting. I shoot him from back. 

②京島旧市街

住宅地に迷い込みます。最近は区画整理が進んで古い街並みが少なくなっています。ここでやたら目に付くのが、政治家の木村たけつか氏であります。Frameメンバーの関口の写真によく登場しています。撮りたくなくてもフレームインするくらいそこら中にポスターを見つけることが出来ます。

② Shoot in Kyojima Old Town 

Next spot is Kyojima Old Town. I got lost while walking around this area, but I could see very old houses and streetscape that I could feel Showa era in Japan. Recently this area has been developing for land readjustment, so I was happy to see them. 

I also saw attractive posters of Taketsuka Kimura, who is a politician, and this poster is seen in photos that are taken by Takumi Sekiguchi, who is one of Frame Tokyo members.

Even if I have no intention to shoot the poster, it is always everywhere! 

➂登場人物はおじいちゃんおばあちゃん、etc

銀座で赤いハイヒールを履いた女性なんて見つけたら、オッと思ってついつい被写体にしたくなるのがメンズフォトグラファーかと思います。

しかし、下町に行ったらそのような光景に出くわすことはありません。自転車にのってるおじいちゃん、手押し車のおばあちゃんが物語の主人公となります。スタイリッシュな写真は飽きらめてください。

➂ Passersby is Elderly Women / Men   

Most of men's street photographers think they want to shoot a woman with red high heels when they see such a nice subject in the city. However, you will not see it when you are shooting in traditional downtown. Instead of that, you will see elderly men who are riding bicycles and elderly women with the elderly hand truck shopping carts.

そして猫！下町名物の猫によく出くわします。

猫を撮るときのコツはその背景も写すことです。猫だけアップで撮らずに、その猫が暮らす生活感も写してあげましょう。ここではおばちゃんが副題です。

Also you will see many cats on the street!! I have a tip to shoot cats for you. When you take photos of cats, do not capture only cats, and do focus on shooting cat's life, like where / how they are living. This picture shows that the cat is main subject and surroundings, such as bicycle and a woman are subject 2.

④じっくり考えて

都会の喧騒から離れて街歩きをしていると色んなものを発見出来ます。慌ててシャッターを切る必要もなく、構図や視点をじっくり考えて写真を撮れます。行き交う人はカメラを構えても顔を背けたり、逃げたりしないのです。

④  Traditional Downtown, where Time Goes by Slowly 

You can discover various things while walking around the calm traditional downtown in tokyo. When I shoot in the crowded city, such as Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ginza, I need to make / think many things, such as composition, number of elements and subject as soon as I can. 

However, when I walk here, I feel totally opposite. I can slowly think those things and shoot. 

ふざけた写真ばかりですが、僕はこの記事の為真面目に撮影してますから。

押上、京島を経て、亀戸駅まで来ました。途中疲れて電車に乗りました（笑）

ここまで来ると人が多いです。でも相変わらず被写体に使えそうなものがたくさんあります。気を付けてください。人混みでは誰かに見られてますよ。ひったくられますよ！

It seems that my photos on here looks not serious, but I shoot seriously for this article.

I arrived Kameido through Oshigami and kyojima. During Shooting here, I got tired so I took train to break. Lol 

Around the station was crowded, and I could find good subjects on here. Just be careful when you are shooting such a crowded areas because everyone is looking at you who is shooting something. 

17時を回りだいぶ暗くなって来たので今日はここまでにしようと思います。

実はここ亀戸は食の街として有名で、居酒屋、ラーメン屋、焼き肉など沢山の飲食店が軒を連ねます。特に有名なのはホルモン屋で人気店は2時間並ぶ事も珍しくありません。

ほんとはビールでも飲んでいきたいのですが、1人だし路地はすごい人混みなので今日は帰ります。

Time was 5pm and it was already dark. Therefor, I stopped shooting today.  

Kameido is very famous that there are so many different restaurants, ramen restaurants and small bars. Popular one is korean BBQ restaurant. It is normal to wait around two hours to enter the restaurant. I wanted to get some drinks here, but I just went back home.  

4 まとめ

4 Conclusion 

いかがでしたでしょうか？

6時間ほどぶらついて300枚撮影しました。全く街の様子は伝わらなかったと思います笑。

ちなみに今の季節、晴れてれば16時から18時の間にとてもきれいな光が降り注ぎます。

都会の喧騒に疲れたら、のんびりと下町をスナップしてみてはいかがでしょうか？

きっと新しい発見があると思います。それではまた！

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you could enjoy my article. I walked around Sumida ward for six hours and took 300 photos. I do not think my photos were not enough to show how traditional downtown is, but I hope you could get some sense of it.  

By the way, if it's sunny, a very beautiful sunlight falls between 16:00 and 18:00 in this season. Since there is no tall building, the light can enter for a longer time than the center of Tokyo.

If you feel be tired of the busy city, I recommend to visit and walk around traditional downtown areas and shoot street snap. 

I'm sure there are new discoveries. See you soon!