At the end of 2023, my colleague, photojournalist Mr.Satoru Semba visited Kamakura for the first time in a while. The coronavirus pandemic has affected various occupations in society, but journalism, which involves face-to-face interviews, has been particularly hard hit. It was even more serious for journalists reporting overseas.
Mr.Semba went to Yuigahama Beach, which is a few minutes’ walk from my house, to look at the ocean by himself. His favorite single-lens reflex camera is now a part of his body, hanging from his shoulder. "Mr.Yokomura, I was able to take a photo like this," He said with a shy smile and showed me the camera's LCD monitor.
One of them captured the silhouettes of a couple standing on a beach at sunset and two birds playing in the sunlight, all in the same instant.
The first time I had a drink with him was on a night in Kabul during the war. A few days ago, in the middle of the night, a U.S. military Tomahawk missile accidentally bombed a nearby residential area. Not only was it a little alcohol, but there was no way the whiskey would get us drunk. And the second time we had drinks was in Jordan, where the Iraq war was just around the corner.
In those days, whenever we went to the battlefield, there were journalists we could always meet again. Our nerves stood on end like a hedgehog's fur, and we didn't even bother blinking so we wouldn't miss the "decisive moment." That is just one side of a person with a calling. They kept a lock on their hearts against "sympathy," which can sometimes be fatal.
My friend, Mr.Semba was free here on the beach in Kamakura. He told me like this. "I don't feel like I'm serious about these photos. But Yuigahama really makes for a great picture."