1994, (Out of print) Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha CO., LTD. (絶版) 美術出版社 Supervised by Kotaro Iizawa, Design : Kenichi Samura
In contrast to frequent studio portrait work at the time, Ueda’s outdoor nudes represented a major leap toward new expressions. Three energetic Japanese women pictured in the wild amidst archetypal Japanese landscapes.
The lifebreath of eros Toward the Japanese nude “In 1994, Kotaro Iizawa inaugurated a Contemporary Nudes photobook series with the publisher Bijutsu Shuppan-sha. Other photographers also took part, but I said, ‘Let’s shoot outdoors.’ At that time, everyone was vying to do ‘Mapplethorpe nudes’ against plain backgrounds. So I made a conscious decision to physically move outdoors and shoot Japanese models. I was able to locate three young Japanese women in their twenties, very Japanese in appearance and full of vigor. With three, I figured their energy would naturally tend toward the yang rather than yin—bright and outgoing, not dark and withdrawn. When the three of them stood completely naked in natural surroundings, they seemed so impossibly natural and enjoying their nakedness, as if I were seeing humans as they originally were. How can I say it? I could feel the robust, overpowering pull of nature through them. Not pretty nudes but boundless vitality laid bare.
from the "Photographer Interview" section of the FujiFilm homepage (used with permission)
