When award winning photographer Shin Noguchi connected with us and shared his sublime home listening room with us it quite literally took our breath away. It’s a great honour that people share their private spaces with us. The feeling of gratitude never gets old, and that’s very much the feeling we have when admiring Shin’s home.
Shin lives in an old traditional house or “Nihon Kaoku” in historical Kamakura, Japan. His analogue audio system and bookshelves are carefully and purposefully situated within the “Tokonoma”, which is considered to be the most sacred place in the Japanese house. This is a testament to the importance he attaches to his jazz records and rare photo albums and books.
Shin explains: “Yes absolutely I’m analogue man because I use Leica film camera and Kodak Portra film, and I love 50’s – 60’s Jazz vinyls so much, and also I live in this old town Kamakura”.
“I love Jazz especially Hard Bop Jazz. I love Clifford Brown, Dextor Gordon, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, etc.. I love to listen to first or second press of these artists”.
Photography: Shin Noguchi
Audio set-up details:
Technics SL-1200mk2, Denon PMA-2000IV, and JBL 4312mk2WX
Shin describes his street photography as an attempt to capture extraordinary moments of excitement, humanism and beauty among the flow of everyday life. With his discreet, poetic and enigmatic approach to his art, Shin is able to capture the subtleties and complexities of Japanese culture without relying on staged, no-finder or hip shot photography. He has been invited to hold solo exhibitions in Russia, France, China (organized by Leica Camera) and other countries, and also He has been featured on The Leica Camera Blog many times, in Courrier Inte’l, Internazionale, Libération, The Guardian, The Independent, etc, and some assignment work has been also published in Die Zeit, Libération, etc.. and his 500 limited new book “In Color In Japan” was sold out just start shipping a week ago.
Shin explains that; “the subjects tell me the meaning and value of life. To take a picture is to affirm the existence of people–the existence of human karma–and it’s also an opportunity to affirm my own existence and accept it as it is.”
Shin was featured in Leica LFI Magazine 2/2021, and The Guardian recently. More recently his work is to be featured on the cover of Standart Japan Magazine issue 16.
https://www.standartmag.jp/
IG: @standartmag_jp
Shin Noguchi Photography website
Shin’s Instagram Account
Leica LFI Magazine 2/2021