Satoru Watanabe’s “Noctchrome” presents photographs produced during an artist residency on the island of Yakushima in the south of Japan. In his monochrome images, Watanabe circumscribes the depths of the island’s forests, shooting with a Noctilux lens primarily in the brief interval between night and dawn. This, he explains in his afterword, is a special period when the spirits of the night begin to disappear; a fleeting boundary between darkness and light. His dark, atmospheric photographs indeed seem to capture something beyond modern reason – not ghosts and spirits, maybe, but something that lies out of reach in modern urban environments where the presence of artificial light masks this special threshold between one day and the next.

“In the deep darkness of a new moon, I walked into the woods with only a small light to guide me. The moment the insects fell silent and the birds began to sing, the outline of the forest gradually emerged from the shadows. A world without color revealed itself. I named this fleeting monochromatic time ‘Noctchrome.’

This series captures the ephemeral landscapes that exist only between night and morning. In the forest devoid of color, I pressed the shutter in those moments when light, sound, and scent intersected. Rendered in monochrome, the photographs attempt to trace not only visible forms but also the layered presence of time and atmosphere.”
― from Satoru Watanabe’s artist statement

For more information on the series, we recommend the following interview with Satoru Watanabe by Leica Fotografie International.