Asahi Graph アサヒグラフ ( aka Asahi Picture News)
January 25, 1923 - October 13, 2000
Weekly
Founding Publisher: Asahi Shimbunsha ( Tokyo)
Founding editor: Narusawa Reisen
B4 size, 26 x 33,5 cm
approx. 80 pages. Gravure printing.
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The Asahi Graph was one of Japan’s best selling pictorial magazines. A general interest magazine with photos of celebrities, royalty, movie stars, current events and social trends.
A magazine for a broad audience. It was more or less the Japanese equivalent of the American Life magazine.
Not specific a photo magazine for photographers. No contests, no photographic news or instructual articles.
From May till October 1974 Shinoyama had a weekly serial, including the cover, about what was in the news in a wide variety of subjects, chosen by Shinoyama.
Shinoyama: ‘A Fine Day was serialized in 1974 in the weekly magazine Asahi Graph. Each week, I took pictures of the most popular people and places and events and they’d be published right away. That went on for about six months. I just took pictures of the trendiest stuff I could find and put them out there.’
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"All the subjects of the photography, from object to person, were shot in the light of midday that allowed for fine details to be captured. However, all the shots were underexposed to a level just shy of losing details. Using a pan focus that provided high-fidelety, the photographer's subjective viewpoint vanished, and through the use of underexposure, the resulting distinctive contours gave the subject what seems like its own luminance. Shinoyama shot of all his subjects head-on, in a confronting manner of expression, which, at the time, was starting to be labeled 'jibutsuron' ( 事物論photography that was a direct and dead pan approach) "
Toda Masako in ; Japanese Photography Magazines 1880s - 1980s' , Goliga Books 2022.
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A photo book composed of a series serialized in “Asahi Graph” magazine for half a year from April 1974.
On the cover page, it says; “A groundbreaking photo book that opens up the horizon of a new documentary.”
Each event is pictured in about 6 pages, with a total of 23 different events.
In the preface of the book, these notes refer to the events.