Plankton Blues: The Tired Clerk in a Series by Yusuke Sakai

Yusuke SakaiAge 31

Japanese photographer. Born in Osaka. Winner of the grand prize in the 2015 Canon Award.

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Over the past several years, I worked more than I was supposed to every day. When you’re constantly sitting at your desk you lose focus and your mind begins to wander. In such moments, I feel as if I’m looking at a picture that suddenly, on its own, appeared in my head. Even if it’s my own reflection, I still look at it as if it were someone else looking at me.

“The office worker blues” is a series of self-portraits in which I take a look at myself. I made it so that I could have a laugh at myself.

I go to work for the sake of my photography. I need to eat in order to continue taking photos, and to do that, I need to work.

One weekend I put on a suit, got on the train and left the city. After finding a nice place, I set up the camera on a tripod and thought about the composition. Then I set the timer and measured the space in the frame. I went back to the camera many times to change something. When there was a significant amount of people I had to wait until they all left.

Sometimes I went back to the camera and saw that it had fallen down because of a heavy lens and this made me feel worthless. But I set it up again to try to get the photo I wanted. I shot from a pedestrian bridge, from the roof of an observatory and from a mountain.

I feel like I’ve helped myself with these pictures. I get strength from the word “blues,” and this strength helps me live. It consists of laughter, sarcasm, defiance and perseverance.

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