There are quite a few before and after photos on these pages. Images that document both a building and its sad disappearance. However, just recently, I saw a demolition notice on an old lodging house that I first photographed a good few years ago. A shot that also included its owner (the one that opens this series), making a quickly taken moment a now very poignant reminder of not only a particular time, but also a person’s life.
An image that got me thinking about similar pictures I’ve taken in Tokyo. Visual documents that at the time meant so much more with the owner present, and yet now arguably mean even more without them.
Denise says
So sad but such beautiful memories you have created.
Lee says
Thanks a lot. Very glad I could take these photos.
YesterdaysHero says
These are all truly incredible. All those lives and stories. You do important work, Lee. Thank you.
Lee says
Thanks ever so much. That’s really kind of you. A real privilege to have captured just a little bit of their lives.
linda says
Oh man. This is really an emotional set.
I know I’m a little obsessed with Tokyo potted plant gardens, but some of these photos really bring home what a sign of life and humanity they are. Even if you don’t see a person around, you know that someone had to choose and buy those pots and plants and the soil – probably one pot at a time, if they don’t have a car. And then water and tend them. So when they’re gone, their absence is so significant and melancholy.
Lee says
Yeah, that’s so true. Those bits of greenery say so much. As does the sudden disappearance of them…
cdilla says
You have taken from your vast archive another gallery of photographs, this time deeply forlorn, and yet woven with radiant happy smiles.
Priceless, thought provoking, and presented to us for free. Thank you.
Lee says
You are very welcome. I’m very lucky to have been given the chance to take these photos.
john says
In the second photo there is still no sign of cats, and in the last photo there is still the bicycle, unmoved but with a few adornments.
Lee says
Yeah, despite the changes, some things barely change at all.