Late lensman captured Cambodia's smiles

(c) Taizo Ichinose

Apr. 7. to 10. 1972
シェムリアップ
砂袋の前で遊ぶ少女たち

(c) Taizo Ichinose

Apr. 14. 1972
シェムリアップ
プノンペンからの民族劇団の公演をもぞき見する子供たち

c) Taizo Ichinose

Jun. 23. 1973
プノンペン避難民キャンプ

(c) Taizo Ichinose

Apr. 7. 1972
シェムリアップ
アンコール小学校の子供たち

http://www.taizo.photographer.jp/works5.html

Late lensman captured Cambodia's smiles

07/26/2007

In a family photo album, often there aren't very many pictures of the family's father, who more than likely was the person behind the camera snapping all the pictures.

Still, photos often reveal much about what the photographer was feeling when snapping away.

This was never more evident than in "Cambodia no kodomotachi" (Children in Cambodia), a book of photos published by Rengo Shuppan.

Bright smiles adorn the faces of young people as they stand in front of scenes of nature and relics. In one photo, a young girl carries a bundle of banana leaves much bigger than she is. In another, a boy is riding a water buffalo. These are the works of the late photographer Shunsuke Endo, who visited Cambodia more than 20 times since 1999.

The trust his subjects had in him pervades these photos like a fragrant aroma.

Two noted war photographers, Kyoichi Sawada and Taizo Ichinose, both perished there. Endo, who covered the country in peacetime, died of leukemia in mid-July, three days after his first photo book was delivered to his sickbed.

He was 29.

His fiancee, Yuka Takase, met Endo last summer when they both joined a Cambodia study group.

They became close friends. But soon after, his illness was diagnosed. The couple had hoped one day to be married in Cambodia. Together in his sickroom, they chose the photos that were included in the book.

"He was never very good at keeping things orderly. There are still mountains of images he took. I like to think of them as our children, which I will nurture and one day display in an exhibition," Takase said.

Endo wrote the book's epilogue.

"I decided to commit myself to taking pictures of Cambodia, a country that is poor but full of smiles," he wrote. Now it has become Takase's job to ensure posterity sees his images of precious peace.

On the last page of the book, there is a photo of Endo. He is pretending to be an airplane, surrounded by children. On the cover, we see the smiling hazel eyes of a young girl. Reflected in her glance is a tiny figure, focusing a Canon EOS camera in her direction.

In the depths of children's soft and gentle memories in that foreign land, the image of Endo will remain forever.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 25 (IHT/Asahi: July 26,2007)