“Machi City” (1960-1968) What can I say? Over time I’ve posted many of his wonderful photographs of Chicago. Any that I haven’t posted, Wayne has. Ishimoto was celebrated in his lifetime but not enough, because he gave us one of our greatest American cities anew — Chicago seen through an outsider’s eyes, with all its wonders and its wounds and its grit somehow made magical, the way photographers always make New York look magical. I wonder, have always wondered, how his internment affected his vision of the world. Ishimoto was born in San Francisco and though spent much of his youth and adulthood in Japan, he was unfortunate enough to be in the U.S. during the ugly moment of Japanese internment. He stayed at the Amache Internment Camp in Colorado. The experience clearly affected his personal life — he was naturalized as a Japanese citizen and chose to leave his archive to a Japanese museum. But — and I’m probably reaching here — I’ve always wondered if that experience of imprisonment affected his work, gave him that freeing sense of curiousity that we see in his lovely pictures. It’s easy to see a world anew if you don’t think you belong in it. Copyright Yasuhiro Ishimoto

“Machi City” (1960-1968)

What can I say? Over time I’ve posted many of his wonderful photographs of Chicago. Any that I haven’t posted, Wayne has.

Ishimoto was celebrated in his lifetime but not enough, because he gave us one of our greatest American cities anew — Chicago seen through an outsider’s eyes, with all its wonders and its wounds and its grit somehow made magical, the way photographers always make New York look magical.

I wonder, have always wondered, how his internment affected his vision of the world. Ishimoto was born in San Francisco and though spent much of his youth and adulthood in Japan, he was unfortunate enough to be in the U.S. during the ugly moment of Japanese internment.

He stayed at the Amache Internment Camp in Colorado. The experience clearly affected his personal life — he was naturalized as a Japanese citizen and chose to leave his archive to a Japanese museum. But — and I’m probably reaching here — I’ve always wondered if that experience of imprisonment affected his work, gave him that freeing sense of curiousity that we see in his lovely pictures. It’s easy to see a world anew if you don’t think you belong in it.

Copyright Yasuhiro Ishimoto