Photographic delirium #4: Black & white mysteries

For contemporary humans living in a world of color TV and inexpensive color pictures, black and white photography is perfect to explain the difficult concept of charisma. The appeal that black & white pictures have over the color ones is, like charisma, indefinable. Physical graying worlds are portrayed simply by the inherent structure of matter. No turn around with color effects rendered by special lenses such as blue desperation, satirical magenta desert or sabbatical yellow. What more? There is no reality in these black & white pictures. Only total colorblind people don't need the imagination to re-create this ersatz. Since colorblind people form only a little portion of the society, well, we just need to learn by ourselves how to appreciate that contrasted world. Fortunately, as respected mammals, we are equipped with a night vision that allows us to scan these pictures without going lunatic. This is how I thought that eluding the black & white mysteries of photography and the reason why putting "&" between black and white looks so much cooler, would be a good subject for this Photographic delirium #4!

I am not an expert in black & white photography. In fact, what I write here is for my own study on photography. I hope that this information helps but I don't have any illusion. Black & white photography allows professional and semi-amateur to re-touch their pictures relatively easily by themselves in the so-called "black room". The black room is a modern invention relatively expensive wherein it is possible to print a negative in a diffuse red light. The contrast, the intensity of light and other paper printing parameters can be played out technically and the results are usually more satisfying. At the moment, I send my negatives to a company that prints them at about three times the cost of color pictures! This almost looks like reverse technology!

Tado and the festival of crazy horses

I must admit that the subject I chose for my black & white photographic delirium is coincidental one. I did not expect to use such a film at that occasion but more often than not, I am putting a film in my camera to experiment new things and this is part of the fun! However, I would suggest black & white for general portrait, structural assemblies or any things that has a potential impression that color would not be able to grasp.

Tado is a city at 20 minutes west of Nagoya by car. It is a relatively unimportant place except for its annual renowned festival of crazy horses. It was the Golden Week (a beautiful 5-days off for everyone in Japan!) and its crowded highways, but I managed to arrive to Tado one hour before the start of the main event.

Once again, the uniqueness of each festival in Japan is remarkable. This is as rare as it gets. Horses belonging to nearby horse farms are fed "sake" (Japanese rice wine) and enticed to run to a wall and jump it. If the horse succeed, the omens will be excellent. Each horse farms send its representatives who are usually nothing other than young adult thugs willing to have a real drinking party in front of thousands of visitors. The rider is dressed in folkloric Japanese courier clothing with symbols of the horse farm. Now, there is no magic to the success of jumping that wall. Only drunken horse would be forced to run 200 meters up-hill and hop a good three meters high dike made of mixed dirt and wheat shoots. There is every year some 15 horses that will try that astonishing goal.

But I knew nothing about it before I arrived there. Strolling around in the festival fast-food kiosks, I find quickly that every one in the city was fervent festival on-goers as they built a wooden patio that they reserved for this special occasion all along the track where the horses run. Hum! Of course, the horse farms are given the best spots just beside the entrance to the wall. I could take a look at the horses by crossing the track. There, the thugs are drinking and enjoying the rituals. They must smooth the track with bamboo sticks (the track) and make holes in the wall such as to produce steps to facilitate the task of the horses. Digging like captives escaping, the local police check the preparations carefully.

I move toward the top of the track among all the unfortunate people that crowded the ascent stairs to the temple. I am one hundred-meter afar from the wall, a challenge to my 300mm lens. Suddenly, the crowd cheers, the first horse and its rider are ready for the trial. In a striking moment, they start galloping harshly toward the wall.(running up!) Gallop-gallop-gallop-gallop-leap, and voila! The horse made it easily atop the wall. What an unbelieving moment! The crowd was instantly in ecstasy and during all that time, I did not have time to do anything with my camera! I really thought that was easy challenge after all and I should prepare my camera with a three automatic snapshot if I really wanted to capture any one instant of that jump!

Some time after that first trial, everyone including myself was waiting expectedly for the second swift rider. Gallop-gallop-gallop-click-click-click-leap, and voila!(Crossing over!) The second one passes as well. I am sure I got some good shots this time and I am really lucky because the second rider made it atop as well although with some reluctance. Yahoo! Then I prepare myself for the third one. I am not going to take 3-by-3 photos otherwise I will finish my film as quick as a Tado horse! Gallop-gallop-gallop-leap-crash-click-crash. What happened? The crowd is dread silenced. The horse has reversed itself and went crushing the rider on sidewalls. Then, they all gazed at the policemen making some space for the wounded rider carried out by the thugs. Some glanced darkly at the crazy horse being led away by the stairs to temple. Any easier to climb these stairs, that confused horse had suffered enough for today. In the distance, the emergency flares of the ambulance dying in the sky, the fourth rider trembling sprang forward and made for the difficult goal ahead. Yet since that accident, at least seven riders will not be able to cross the dreaded wall. Each of time, perilous adventures failing cheerlessly, the crowd was beginning to forget the first two successful riders and their good will. I, myself, changed position in the crowd to be able to catch a glimpse of the rider coming from the other side.

But the wind would change direction once again. Some successful riders (one winner) among other accidental jumps will follow until the last one. I am weary as I spent the whole afternoon under the sun behind in this narrow valley among crowded locals. Once finished, on its roughly cut and now much weathered wall could be seen every horse footprints, spilled sake, sweat and blood. The track lay quiet now under the long shadow of the temple oak trees. I pray for that amazing experience. I remained there and made a brave stand, but I could not hope to do what even what the thugs did. Beyond power and imagination, I was frightened to even think about such a crazy experience...