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New York, and I really loved it as a
subject, so that’s why I went to the
world championship. Twenty people
from 17 countries compete. It’s been
going on for 12 years now.
Q. How does it work?
A. The competitor has one minute to
perform. They are playing an invisible
A
B
THE OUTTAKES: The
verticals are pretty good,
but despite a nice facial
expression (A), there’s
too much empty space.
Great “airness” doesn’t
compensate for the missing
half of his body (B).
guitar. There are judges with three
criteria: technical skill…
Q. How do you judge
technical skill in air guitar?
A. Nobody knows exactly.
It’s invisible.
Q. And the other criteria?
A. Stage charisma and “airness.”
They made that word up. Most of the
contestants participate just for fun.
They choose their own songs. Most
[of the] people can’t play real guitar.
Q. Did you have a press
pass for the event?
A. Yes. I approached a Japanese
magazine first, and they were
interested, so I got the press credit
and shot it for them.
Q. Where are you standing?
A. I was in front of the stage in a
special press area. There were about
20 other photographers and TV
crews around me. I made sure I was
in the center because I wanted to get
a good image.
Q. What gear did you use?
A. That’s a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark
II. The lens is a Canon 24–70mm;
my focal length is 24mm because
I’m so close to the subject. There’s
plenty of light from the stage, so at
ISO 1600 I didn’t need a flash. The
lighting changed constantly, so I
chose f/3.5 to make sure I’d have a
fast enough shutter speed to make
the image sharp.
Q. What makes this
the best version?
A. I shot the vertical ones first.
Each contestant only plays for one
minute, and as time was running out,
it occurred to me that I should shoot
horizontally too. I just wanted to
cover both so I’d have a choice later.
But in the end, I liked the horizontal
better. I think it really captures his
energy and emotion.
Q. Did you do much
in postproduction?
A. I shot it RAW. I used auto white
balance, and I liked the setting the
camera chose. At ICP, I just studied
journalism so I don’t know that
much about retouching. All I did was
change the Curves for high contrast.
Q. Have you ever tried
air guitar yourself?
A. No, I just take the pictures.
Q. Do you think you’ll
ever return to Japan?
A. Maybe after five or 10 years I’ll go
back to my country. I miss the sushi.
POP PHOTO FEBRUARY 2009 WWW.POPPHOTO.COM 17