The first photo exhibition by a photographer Makoto Hoshino
"花鳥風月-Kachofugetsu-" will be held at KUON Flagship Store from June 4 to 6, 2021.
Makoto Hoshino has been supporting the visual part of KUON since the establishment of the label. So far, he has documented KUON's manufacturing and story in photographs, but this time, it is his turn to be focused on as a landscape photographer. (You can find his works and his name everywhere in this website.)
As many of you noticed, the title of this exhibition is same as the concept of KUON Spring/Summer 2021 collection. His extraordinary obsession with photography and KUON's obsession and mission in manufacturing stimulate and resonate with each other.
In addition to exhibiting and selling his works, collaborative T-shirt commemorating his first exhibition will also be available.
[Comment from Makoto Hoshino]
The word "Kachofugetsu" originates from a game in which aristocrats and warriors used to enjoy writing poems about the scenery of nature. The toughest part to create my works for this exhibition was how to interpret the title "Kachofugetsu".
When I was offered this event and given this theme, I thought it would be easy for me to just stick to my favorite landscape works and accepted the exhibition with no hesitations. However, when I faced to the word "Kachofugetsu", I realized the origin of the word, "a play to express and enjoy the scenery of nature," and went down to a thought that I could not express "Kachofugetsu" in its true sense with the way I had been thinking.
It has been more than a year since the pandemic started changing the world. During these time, I spent more time with my children in nature. By appreciating nature with my kids and explaining it to the children in words they understand, I have more opportunities to reaffirm the nature around us in our daily lives.
It's not just about taking pictures of beautiful scenery, it's about facing nature as I feel it. For me, "Kachofugetsu" means to feel nature with my whole body and capture not only the scenery but also the way I feel it in my photographs. Plus, I want to express myself in a way that is different from those who focus on nature photography.
After that, I began to apply my own style of commercial photography especially taking objects to my landscape photography.
In object photography, I try to create light, bring out the charm of the subject, and create a balance that makes it look better.
In landscape photography, you have to carefully examine the time of day and weather conditions in a certain amount of light that is determined by the terrain.
The common denominator among these contradictory tasks is the question of where to place the highlights and how to extend them to make the image more beautiful. I thought of this one point. Now it was up to me to decide what to entrust the highlights created by nature to, and how to incorporate them. As I went through the process one by one, the wind and water led me to a new world.
Among the various colors found in the natural world, I was able to find my "Kachofugetsu" in the various gradations created by honestly cutting out the tones created by the sun without going against nature.
Makoto Hoshino
Born in 1984, he started learning photography as a studio assistant in 2008, and became a freelance photographer in 2013, and has been creating his own works as well as shooting commercial photos such as product catalogs for apparel, food, and other industries.
Website: https://www.makotohoshino.com
Instagram: @photo_makotohoshino
