Today I want to present a Series by Thibaut Goarant who submitted these pictures using the Submission Form on Streetbounty.
He created a very visual style of his Japan that is dark and gritty. He includes a flash which helps him to embrace the snow which is falling in front of him and creates multiple dimensions in his pictures.
Following are the description of his work and some images of his Black & White series “Mitani Monogatari”.
Mitani Monogatari
by Thibaut Goarant
Changing life, who never dreamt about it?
That’s what I am trying to do. Bored with my “salaryman” life. Because I don’t have the capacities for it. Because I grew tired of it. Because it didn’t meet my expectations anymore.
I left the big city, the noise, and turmoil. I went for the country, the silence, and peace. I moved to my wife’s parents place.
It is a different world here. It is in the middle of the country. It is in the middle of the mountains. It is in the middle of nowhere. The closest shop is a fifteen-minute drive. So if you have no car, you can’t even sustain.
I am here, trying to adapt the chief-town of Mitani, in Yabu city, Japan. Led by the urge of keeping shooting, I’m walking around the place… not far yet. We arrived in winter. The place is covered with snow. Houses dark wood, mountains, firs, the winter stormy sky… Everything calls for my longing of high contrast blacks and whites.
My first steps into this world, only a beginning I hope, a new story to tell.
The Complete Series
About Thibaut Goarant
My name is Thibaut Goarant, I am a middle-aged guy. I’m born in Quimper, Brittany, France but I’ve been living now in Japan for 4 years. I have started photography only 3 years ago. I mostly shoot with a Ricoh GRII so with a 28mm lens for digital and I shoot film also with a Pentax 67 medium format with a 50mm lens.
The camera is for me a lovely tool. It is an extension of my eye and brain that helps me capturing or reflecting something that I cannot say with words.
I shoot 99% of time black and white. That’s how I like to see the world around me. I think it corresponds to my state of mind; it is only natural for me to shoot black and white.
My favorite photographer is Todd Hido although he did not influence me on shooting, or at least not consciously. I enjoy also Daido Moriyama and some other Japanese photographer such as Shinya Arimoto or Shin Yanagisawa.
Photography has different aspects for me. First, it is an art form where I can express myself; it is an « affordable » one in a sense that you just need a camera and then practice/work. Then it is a stress reliever; I shoot and I forget everything. Finally, it is an enjoyable moment when it comes to sharing my pictures with my family, friends and the rest of the world through social media.
For photography, my best friend told me everything I should know, and even more; that’s how I started to dig deeper. Then the books came; they are marvelous tools for learning and for mental healing, a good source of inspiration and satisfaction with the medium, a different feeling than looking at pictures on the internet. I also attended a workshop with Eric Kim in Tokyo; it is not an experience that transcends your photography immediately, but the energy is good and what you’ve learned hits back later; it really acts as a trigger.
When I started photographing I did not have any work or photographer in mind. I bought myself a camera; a mirrorless that said it was the perfect tool for street photography. The street photography words resonated with me, it was appealing. I started to photograph frenetically, and little by little, I dug deeper into street photography.
I educated myself and discovered a whole world of photographers. I looked for the new names on the internet, learned about the masters, they became, not directly a source of inspiration, but a solid cultural background to pursue my route.
I used to love pure street photography, but I slowly moved to portraits taken in the streets (and a project called Hello You !). Then, as I moved to the countryside of Japan (I mean real countryside) and as there are fewer people and that the scenery is totally new to me, I started to take landscapes
