BY DAIGO SAWANO

The Photography Club of Sapporo University, which consists of 30 members, holds four exhibitions a year on the campus, at the Sapporo Factory and other places. The members carry their favorite cameras and take pictures when they find something interesting. Then they exhibit their pictures with their own unique viewpoint. They gather to criticize each others pictures before the exhibition. They exchange their opinion on technique, composition, color and developing in the meeting and then they devise the setting of the exhibition, the arrangement of the display of their pictures and so on. So their exhibitions are devised with care.

Practically, it is a complicated process from taking a picture until the complete work. We aren't concerned about it when we take pictures with our instant camera. They, however, develop their own pictures with various tools and chemicals. In technique, their pictures are on a level with magazines or advertisements. However, you find their effort to express their own ideas and viewpoints in a picture, since it is all their own work.

"People talk about pictures in magazines or advertisements, but they rarely go to photography exhibitions. We should talk about the pictures in magazines and exhibitions as on the same level, I would like everyone to feel to be more familiar at exhibitions." said Mr Fukuyama, the president of The Photography Club and a sophomore in the Faculty of Foreign Languages. In fact some people think exhibitions are quiet places where a person quietly evaluates the photographs. However, an exhibition we have seen was not so serious. Each member displayed humorously devised pictures. There were many things we usually pay little attention to, taken from the photographer's original angle.

Since last year the Photography Club of S.U. asked everyone who came to see their exhibitions to answer a questionnaire. In the past there had been only a notebook to write down your opinion if you wanted to make a comment. But now they get more opinions from visitors with the questionnaire. If we commented on the exhibition, we would say "There were a lot of progressive and unique pictures. They were very interesting and exciting." Mr Fukuyama said "A few people criticize us severely for our technique, but some write such phrases as ' This picture is good'. That also makes us happy.

The Photography Club of S.U. will actively continue exhibiting . If you haven't visited one of their exhibitions, I urge that you visit one. One way to enjoy an exhibition is when by chance you are in the neighborhood of one, it is then you may become more familiar with their photography.

photo by Yusei Fikuyama