Komorebi is a Japanese word that means sunlight filtering through the foliage. It’s much more than a technical description, it’s a feeling. It’s the emotions you experience from the shimmering light and dancing shadows created by the swaying of leaves in the wind. You often find komorebi under the canopy of a forest, especially in the early morning or late evening “golden hour” light.
My family and I watched a movie last night called Perfect Days. It was directed by Wim Wenders, and co-written by Wenders and Takuma Takasaki. I don’t want to spoil any of the film for those who haven’t seen it, so I will spare the details. It’s one of the best movies that I’ve seen in awhile, and well worth watching. A main and reoccurring theme of the movie is komorebi. If you decide to watch, stay until the end of the closing credits.
Wim Wenders, aside from being an accomplished movie director, is a talented photographer. His series (and book) Written in the West is a poetic depiction of southwestern Americana, and is a personal photographic influence. Generally speaking, I’m a bigger fan of his photographs than his movies; however, Perfect Days is a great movie. Below is an example of one of my images that has some similarities to Wenders’ Written in the West series.
As I watched Perfect Days, I found myself relating to Hirayama, the main character. He is drawn to that komorebi feeling of the light coming through the trees, and tries to photographically capture it. I oftentimes do that, although not usually with a lot of success. I don’t believe I realized that it’s a certain emotional response that I attempted to capture in those moments, or especially how difficult it is to communicate that feeling photographically. That’s the job of the photographer; however, it’s not an easy job, at least not for me. It’s one thing to capture the scene as I see it, but another to capture it as I feel it. Hopefully, the more I practice and the more I learn the better at it I will become. Photography is a life-long pursuit.
I spent a little time this morning going through my photographs captured over the last year, searching for examples of komorebi. There are certainly some, but not a lot that are actually any good. Now that I have a better understanding of what it is, I hope to do better moving forward.
Below are some of my komorebi photos. I hope that it somehow inspires you to create your own, or, at the very least, to watch Perfect Days sometime soon.
“It’s not an easy job, at least not for me. It’s one thing to capture the scene as I see it, but another to capture it as a feel it. Hopefully, the more I practice and the more I learn the better at it I will become. Photography is a life-long pursuit.”
Very well written Ritchie !
Exactly what I’m feeling, doing and pursuing in my own photography path.
Like going back on the ‘job’ / same spots to retake endlessly the pictures in different lighting and weather conditions, and more so mood of the moment.
Like a blacksmith with hot lead to craft a beautiful sword at the end. A lot of hard work, sometime good and inspired, many times dull…
A bit like the percentage of keepers on a film roll (as stated by famous photographers prior digital days) or now AF focus keepers in AF-C mode when talking of Fujis vs Sony and the others (LoL).
I’m super happy if I can reach 10% of keepers at the end of a session!
So I fully relate with your experience and feelings.
But all in all it is still an epic and fun ride / process at the end.
Especially when you review your pictures taken more than a year ago and the photographic memory of them has vanished.
Thanks for the tip on Wim Wenders. Not seen this movie yet (and boy I’ve seen a bunch of movies !).
I remember, back in the film days, if I got five good “keepers” from a roll of 36 exposures, it was a good day. I called that a success.
I remember reading in a 1950’s issue of Arizona Highway’s magazine a photographer giving the advice: if you want to create great pictures, you need to return to the same subject over and over and over again. Try in a different light or season, or from a different angle. Keep doing it again and again. That’s such great advice that seems nearly forgotten to time.
I appreciate the thoughtful and kind comment!
Hi, swords aren’t made out of lead!
Wouldn’t be very effective if they were
Hello Ritchie, its nice to hear about emotions/feeling in images and I think a lot of your recipes help to convey that so photogrophers can easily use them to get that feeling in their work. You might be interested in an ebook I’ve just finished dealing with that topic. Don’t worry, its at no cost, no catches, as I just needed to get all my lectures etc down in one place before my mind turns completely to mush. Oops, too late. 😆 You can read about it here and see some examples topics at https://sites.google.com/view/behindtheseen
I’m retired so I won’t be using info to on sell steak knives or anything else. I’m just happy to get it out there as a contribution after nearly 60 years of involvement in the photography community. Regards, Adrian
Thanks for sharing!
The flowers look nice when sun is back lighting:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/202232119/Flowers-of-the-Rundale-Palace/modules/1147153999
Yeah, that does look nice! Is that your picture?
I saw that movie on the plane last week. Old dude uses an Olympus film camera, I think.
Was in Japan only last October and am already missing it.
Yeah, Olympus Mju 1 I believe.
Japan is definitely high on my bucket list. I hope to go someday, I think that would be amazing.
I remember my bitter disappointment when I would pick an envelope full of such photos from my local drugstore some half a century ago.
If only I had known about Komorebi!
Thank you for sharing. I feel like even bigger loser now…
Such an experience (being highly disappointed by the pictures after getting them back from a one-hour lab) is what set me on my photography journey. I think if it encourages you to learn and grow, then it wasn’t a negative experience; instead, it can be quite positive.