35mm Japan Travel Story by Dani Polak

Today, we’re featuring a 35mm Japan travel story from film photographer Dani Polak. The story behind this series is an awesome one, full of adventure. It starts with Dani and his wife buying a one-way ticket around the world. Here’s more from Dani…

In August 2018, my wife and I decided to give our life a radical turn. We sold all of our belongings, including our house and car, and bought a one-way ticket around the world, with the idea to fulfill all of our dreams and to tick of our entire bucket list. We did so for a little over 9 months when we decided that it was time to fulfill our biggest dream: to live in Japan.

That’s how we ended up in a little suburb of Tokyo where we lived for almost 3 months. While documenting our time in Japan, I had the strong urge to avoid every little cliche that makes Tokyo the city it is right now. I wanted to show our friends and family what ‘real life’ was about in Tokyo, without me falling for the visual traps that are neon signs, Chinese tourists dressed in kimono’s, plastic food and maid cafés. Sometimes I have the feeling that visual culture transformed Tokyo into this exotic bird of paradise. Something I really wanted to avoid.

Tokyo is a really great place to live and document life. I took my Canon AE-1 with me every single day and no one would ever look at me with a weird face. I shot heaps of pictures, and when I looked at them after they were developed I found only two pictures that had someone looking at my camera: my wife and a graffiti piece.

Analog cameras and films used: Canon AE-1 (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay) | Ilford HP5 (Find on Amazon), Fujifilm Provia 100F (Find on Amazon), Kodak Ektar 100 (Find on Amazon)

Connect with Dani: Website | Instagram

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