(Publication: VPUBLIC 萬象國 issue 20130416, 13x19 inches matte paper, archival inkjet, 2013)
Tomio Nitto is skilled in watercolor. He never takes photographs; his sketchbook is his camera. One day, I asked him if he would be interested in painting portraits of my cameras. He agreed, and from then on, he often came to my gallery, sitting by the large windows, happily drawing my cameras of all sizes.
Later, he visited a Japanese friend who was a former professional photographer and stayed with him for several days, extensively sketching the cameras his friend had retired with. When I saw that he had painted over 50 cameras, I suggested holding an exhibition at the gallery. Taking it a step further after the show, we dedicated a corner of the gallery to exclusively display his camera works.
This was the beginning of TOMIO NITTO CAMERASHOP. The shop specializes in selling printed editions of his camera sketches.
Tomio Nitto 善水彩。他從來不拍照，速寫簿就是他的照相機。有天我問他可有興趣替我的照相機畫肖像，他首肯之後，打後的日子便不時在我的畫廊，大窗之旁，照相機大的小的，畫得不亦樂乎。之後他又探訪了一前職業攝影師日本朋友，並留宿數天，廣畫他退休後退居下來的照相機。我見他所畫照相機之數已達50，便建議他在畫廊做一個展覽。後來更進一步，在我畫廊近後的一方，闢一角用來專門展示他的照相機畫本。這便是「日塔富夫相機店」的起源。他的店專事售買相機畫本打印本。