man ray
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Today, Joon and I went to the Man Ray exhibit at the National Art Centre.
It turns out that he actually considered himself a painter and sculptor first and a photographer only as a means of archiving his work and making a living. Joon and I both liked his painting for its heartfelt nature and its depth. While his portraits and other photograph work was done with exacting skill there was something about it that failed to make the same connection. Perhaps a focus on technique over expression?
At lunch in a nearby cafe, I noticed that a young fellow at the next table had a Rolleicord TLR camera. I mentioned it and we kicked off a five-ten minute conversation about cameras. I showed off my old rangefinder and we talked about Joon's job at Sony. It was good to be able to strike up a conversation in Japanese. Pity it's taken me four years to get this far.
Before we'd done lunch, Joon and I discussed his upcoming departure from Tokyo. There's still one thing he'd like to do before he leaves, and that is climb mount Fuji. He seems to think that I'm capable of joining him!
I cycled home in the 30oC weather and when I got home I found that some of Mari's friends had arrived with their families. Once again, the conversation was in Japanese and once again I was able to participate. Well, to some extent. The other children were younger than Kenny at six months and nine months. It was amazing to see how far he's already come at two and a half years.