Dates: January 7, 2019 (Mon) – March 30, 2019 (Sat)
Nikon Museum will hold the “Rokuro Yoshida Photo Exhibition — Snow Crystals” from January 7 to March 30, 2019.
Rokuro Yoshida was a photographer and film director born in 1919, exactly 100 years ago, in Hiraka-gun (now Yokote city), Akita. He is known as the inventor of the “single light source, dual-color illumination method”, which is the origin of the blue background often used to shoot photographs of snow crystals today.
This is the first full- scale retrospective exhibition of Rokuro Yoshida, and is based around 60 microscope images photographed by him, as well as explanations of his photographic system. In addition, the digital version of the “Observation of Snow and Crystals” movie will be screened. It is the first movie in which snow crystals have been shot using a microscope with a blue background. With these exhibits, we present the “big picture” of Rokuro Yoshida’s snow crystal photos.
The selection and arrangement of the exhibited items are supervised by Mr. Akifumi Yoshida, grandson of Rokuro Yoshida.
Rokuro Yoshida
Rokuro Yoshida was born in 1919 at Jumonji-machi, Hiraka-gun (now Yokote city) in Akita. During the filming of “Observation of Snow and Crystals” (1960), he developed the “single light source, dual-color illumination method”, which is the standard illumination method for shooting snow crystals in color today. In 1970, he decided that taking photos of snow crystals would be his life’s work. He took thousands of photos throughout his life, and died on December 1, 1995. He published many books, including a photo book “Letters from Heaven”, a postcard book “Snow Crystals” and a picture book “Kira-Kira” (words: Shuntaro Tanigawa).
| Exhibits | 60 photos of snow crystals Movie “Observation of Snow and Crystals” (1960, Toei) Commentary panels explaining the formation and classification of snow crystals, etc. Large photo panels |
|---|---|
| Arrangement | Mr. Akifumi Yoshida |
| Cooperation | Toei Company The Nakaya Ukichiro Foundation The Ukichiro Nakaya Museum of Snow And Ice Dr. Akira Yamashita, Emeritus Professor of Osaka Kyoiku University The late Dr. Keiji Higuchi, Emeritus Professor of Nagoya University, and his family |
