Where's the wandering photographer?

[Brian C. Miller]

The New Social Photographer
Letter from Tokyo #6: Japan, 2011 and photography

I popped over to the Japan Exposures site, and I noticed a blog entry, "The New Social Photographer." I was struck by his sentence, "It is lamented, that the response of photographers to the March 11 earthquake to date has been weak."

Ouch!

He goes on to write that Japanese photographers haven't lost their interest in people, but that the people being photographed are the photographers themselves.

So I thought to myself, aren't there any wandering photographers in Japan? Nobody like the poet Matsuo Bashō or Komusō monks? Of course, who is our modern Weegee or W. Eugene Smith?

For all the cell phones and digital cameras, has society become too sedentary to photograph? Are we missing our wandering photographers?

[Dirk Rösler]

Hi, thanks for reading my article. I am not sure whether it is a Japanese phenomenon, but I doubt it. The past generation of artist had entirely different objectives and quality standards than today. Again, not saying this as a criticism, just an observation. Things have changed, the world has changed and our priorities. Sure, there might be a contemporary Eugene Smith, but remember he was one of many many brilliant workers of his generation. Now a single one would be more of an aberration and not disprove the theory.

Happy to hear other views.

[John Kasaian]

If a culture is racing for the exit, why would it seek to make photographs?
Weegee and W. Eugene Smith had a facination with the cultures in which they lived. from this article it appears that a disconcertingly large part of modern japanese society has turned away from it's culture and embraced---what exactly?
I don't put much creedence in Huffington but it does raise an interesting view which might pertain to the OP's observation.