This is one of my personal favorite photographs - Location: Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan December 2008I can no longer remember what I saw and what I was thinking before I pushed the shutter to make this shot back in December of 2008 while I was still living in Tokyo, Japan and making daily trips to shoot in and around my tower apartment in Shinjuku. I know I had been on to photograph some of the millions of Christmas lights in the city. Japanese really, really like Christmas lights. All of Tokyo is covered with them. They refer to them as "illumination."
This night it was just me and my Nikon watching the thousands of people walk by watching the thousands of lights. There is a comfort I feel when I am out with my camera, almost a kind of security, that I would not feel if I were just one of the others out enjoying the lights.
What do you see in the photo? What of the two people? Does it look like a couple about to kiss? Actually, they were just strangers passing by and I happened to push the shutter just at the right instant to create the kissing illusion. As I mentioned above, I can no longer remember if I intended to do this. I am not even sure if I intended any people to be in the shot at all.
Nevertheless, this illusioned shot of a couple's kiss is one of my personal favorite shots because it makes me think and try to remember.