Density: Exploring Tokyo with the Sigma 20-60mm F2.8-4 DG Contemporary Zoom Lens

It’s challenging to clearly recall how much I’ve walked and photographed Tokyo. My memory of it is a mere blur, but the outcome, which are the countless photographs that remain, function as evidence.

Even after over ten years of practice, angst and self-doubt kicks in before leaving the house — what if I don’t discover anything new? What if I don’t find anything photographable today?

As I take the leap and head out of the house with my camera, I pass by the same everyday scenes. Yet, I somehow manage to sense something new. A new discovery.

In a metropolis as complex as Tokyo, my focus is not to exaggerate the state of urbanism and chaos, but to highlight scenes that go rather unnoticed and expand them through the photograph. By compounding and layering organic, dynamic elements such as people and ever-changing elements such as inorganic material and light, the possibilities can be quite infinite.

There is beauty in everything. But photography has taught me that I need to train my own vision to find it.

Quite frankly, I’m not the type of person that relies heavily on photographic equipment, but if I believe a new piece of equipment may enable me to see in a new light, I can make quick decisions. This applies for the Sigma 20-60mm F2.8-4 DG | Contemporary that I have been lucky enough to test and use.

In the world of candid documentary photography, the “standard” focal lengths are usually a 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, and recently perhaps the 40mm range as well. This new lens clears all of these ranges while going just a bit tighter, or just a bit wider.

Subject isolation is commonly achieved through the usage of a telephoto lens, but there are other methods. One of them which I’ve explored over the years is by getting extremely close with a wide angle, allowing you to create a tight frame with other-worldly traits.

While observing a painting by Salvador Dali at the Morohashi Museum of Modern Art (located in Fukushima Prefecture), it suddenly hit me that Dali’s surrealist paintings resemble wide-angle photographs with impeccable composition and subject arrangement. My brain hung on to that thought. At night while scouring the internet for explanations, there it was. An interview of Dali during an old TV show, where he states something along the lines of “My paintings are photographs of the dreams I see, put onto the canvas.”

From thereon, I have a personal fascination of using wide-angle lenses and attempting to create beautiful yet mysterious photographs with clean compositions and subjects punctually arranged within the frame.

On the other spectrum, using the zoom at 60mm reminds me of the pioneers of color photography like Ernst Haas and Saul Leiter, who both used telephoto lenses frequently but also a myriad of other focal lengths. Contrary to what they may be known for, they were firm believers in convenience and sizing down camera equipment. One can only imagine their reaction to a lens like this existing.

At the end of the day, you need to walk with a camera and look carefully in order to make new discoveries. In my own school of thought, creating less friction between my everyday life and the act of holding the camera is that essential. Size and weight are obvious factors, but as an artist, I will only own and use instruments that resonates with my own ethos and vocabulary. Lightweight, compact, and beautifully crafted— the Sigma 20-60mm F2.8-4 DG | Contemporary is an industrial product that creates excuses for me to head out the door.

BEHIND THE SCENES