What's this? Book review of Shoji Ueda's photo book.

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Impressions: Shoji Ueda recently passed away on July 4, 2000 at age 87. He will be sorely missed by Japan's photography world. I was fortunate to meet him once at one of his exhibitions where he autographed my exhibition catalog and even let me pose with him for a picture. He was kind, and well liked by his colleagues.

Ueda's most famous photographs are those taken on the Tottori Sand Dunes with people placed like objects on the sand. His striking spatial compositions with a dash of surreal or dreamy elements won him much acclaim. There is always a strong contrast between near and far objects in his photographs. The sand dune portraits dominate the book. He had a variety of people pose on the dunes for him, including children, a group of musicians, a nude model, and even Ken Domon who was a fellow photographer. There are also self portraits of himself and his family on the sand. He looks very playful in the pictures. The pictures in the book were taken from 1935 to the early 1990s.

Besides the sand dune photos, other pictures show children at school, a portrait of a local beauty queen, an elderly woman dressed as a sumo wrestler, and a young lady in front of tall brush.

If you ever visit Tottori Pref., be sure to visit the sand dunes and the photo museum dedicated to him. (Reviewed by Philbert Ono)

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