＜Ulysses Aoki＞
The beauty of the GR lies in its size, allowing versatility. The photographer can simply put the camera in their pockets, and take photos of moments in between their everyday lives.
And our everyday lives can be anything from a hectic Tokyo train commute to work, to a beautiful and quiet moment with a loved partner along the Mediterranean sea.
However, especially with our closest companions, we tend to disregard how capable they can be and how appreciative we are of them. I think we all have that closest friend that's actually a superstar in real life, but when the time comes to introduce him or her to another person, we go "wait what do you do again?".
Strange, since we've known that friend for years and years. This event, kindly setup by the Ricoh team, was a fruitful day that allowed people to reconnect with the GR and understand what it's capable of, whether you were an owner of the camera or not.
The results from the many photographers that joined us for the day were a great representation of this too. Although we were all given the same time and same location to wander off and shoot some images, the results varied from abstract to literal, quick to meticulous, monochromatic to color.
I think a lot of us looked at the photographs of other participants that day, looked down at our GRs, and said to ourselves, "oh wait you can do that?". It definitely showcased the potential of the genre that we all came here to celebrate, candid photography, and how the GR allows us to participate in said genre.
I thank you again for the GR team to have such a large and organized community event. No other brands today cherish and respect the candid photography community like them, out of love not only for cameras, but for the celebration of this rather modern but historical artform, photography.
Thank you.
Ulysses
Link: https://www.grblog.jp/en/article/7636/