A tremendous collaborative effort led by super talented Diego Orlando, we created, printed and published our second book over at BURN Magazine, and we named it “BURN.02″.

Almost two hundred pages of pure blood, sweat, tears & pride… with much original and commissioned work, never seen elsewhere.

I’m tremendously proud of the stunning work in there, and the fact that David Alan Harvey was able to pull it off yet again. And again, also this book is literally flying out the door… We printed a limited edition of 1,500 copies in Italy at Grafiche Antiga, and at the rate things are going, we’ll be sold out pretty fast. Not bad for us tiny little team… and kudos to Diego formaking it happen.

Have a look for yourself: the first page of every essay in the book… (images © copyright the respective photographers)

It’s a true collector’s item, so please… order your copy, spread the word, and support us in our cause… BUY BURN.02 HERE…

The editors at GEO Epoche are an absolute joy to work with. Super professional, an incredible eye to detail, and strong research, they also valued my opinions and possible safety concerns and the overall context. I’ve always felt it a very sensitive issue to give control away over the context of my images, but I have never felt at any moment that they treated it lightly. I am very impressed.

Oh, and they’re also including an image of mine in their newsletter, 15 extra images in a slide show on their website to promote the story, and they’re also making mention of the upcoming ODO YAKUZA TOKYO book (more about that book very soon), and the second issue of 893 Magazine.

I simply couldn’t be happier the way this all came together. Online, offline, printed, screen, past, present, future,…. all in one big mix.

Below you can see the actual layout of the spreads in the GEO Epoche printed magazine (issue #48), and these are the links to the connected online content: GEO Epoche – issue #48, the chapter about the Yakuza and  the Yakuza slide show (both in German).

This is going to be the closing image of what I think is the first major step in the Yakuza project: the photo book “ODO YAKUZA TOKYO”.

Why cherry blossoms? Well, that’s another one of the many enigmas surrounding the Yakuza: “ODO” or 桜道, is literally translated as “the way of the cherry blossom”, and is the credo of the particular family that I’m following. An image of cherry blossoms seems crucial to the book.

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But first things first: yes, the book is finally coming… I’ve found a printer, I’m finishing the design, I’ve narrowed down the paper choice, and I’ve been recommended an incredible binding. More on the book coming very very soon: the design, the model, what’s in it, how I am going about publishing it, seeking support from you guys, how I’m going to try to sell it, etc….

People ask me what the difference is between the book and the magazine (893 Magazine). At first, I’d just keep saying, “well the book is like a book, and the magazine is like a magazine”, but as more and more people started giving me that blank stare, I realized that explanation didn’t quite cut it :-)

I think it’s more along the lines of this: 893 Magazine allows me to bridge the gap between the project and talking about the project.
893 Magazine effectively has given me the much needed ability, the platform to talk about my personal experiences along the way. In fact, one could compare the magazine to an abbreviated, condensed, more permanent printed version of a blog or a personal diary.

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Contrary to the above, the book “ODO YAKUZA TOKYO” is the actual project. The images, all reproduced in the best possible way I can afford, as a perfectly sized tangible book object, a quality package that represents the first two years of photographing the Yakuza.

If the book is the story in pictures, the magazine is talking about the story in pictures. Two different things, but both equally necessary.

So why not combine into one book? For the simple reason that it is time for the book, but the rest of the Yakuza project is not over yet…. there are still many things to come after this first book, and upcoming 893 Magazine issues give me that ongoing platform to talk about this: issue #2 will talk about the process of preparing the documentary film, designing the book, sketching the exhibition, going deeper into the personal life of our fixer Taka, new images along the way, and more…

So there you have it. A sneak peek into what’s cut out for me for the rest of this year. Plus starting several new projects. Gulp. What a workload. But I’m looking at it from the bright side… I’m really, really, really lucky to be doing what I love.

Hugs to all,

anton

I thought this was worth a mention: for an interview about my 893-Yakuza project, which will appear in the forthcoming January issue of Fotografie, a Dutch photography magazine, The Editor-in-Chief Diana Bokje (@dianabokje) does something special… not only does she print an interview which captures our various conversations very well, but she also reproduces 5 complete spreads directly out of 893 Magazine Issue#1, including original layout and texts. Simply amazing that someone not only recognizes but also acts upon the the link between images, layout, typography and writing in the 893-Yakuza project… which is so important… She already knows that I really appreciate this opportunity, but yet again: kudos…. Above are the spreads as they’re appearing: I’ll find out if there’s a way to order the issue online, and I’ll let you know. a

Members of other families arriving at the funeral of Miyamoto-san (one of the family bosses) to pay their respects. Miyamoto-san died in february 2010, as a result of a stroke. Tokyo, February 2010

This is Soichiro driving me through the streets of Shinjuku, Tokyo, in his third generation 1989 Nissan Skyline GT-R. It’s all white and retro as hell and yes, even though I’m not a car freak, I must admit it’s very cool. I like retro. Click on the image to see a short video of me trying to capture the moment. I never even knew he bought the car, and on the last night that I was there two weeks ago, while my brother and I were walking in Kabukicho debriefing the past shoot, he casually asked: “fancy a little drive?” A little drive indeed. There were traffic jams everywhere in Tokyo, so we had to cut our drive short. In the footage you can see me in the rearviewmirror, desperately trying to hold the camera still… …which obviously didn’t work.

check out the story here: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/showcase-76/

Check out the post on BURN Magazine…

We both committed to BURN in NYC in December 2008 (after a large gathering of great friends & fellows where the BURN idea actually crystallized – read this), shook hands, and simply went for it. I know we launched on an impossible moment right before or after Christmas – I can’t remember which day exactly – but right now, either one of those days sounds like impeccably bad timing from our part :-)

And throughout the first month we called each other daily… setting up essays, finding new talent, going through submissions, helping photographers deliver their essays and singles, taking care of the tech side, setting up an essay system, spinning ideas…

These days we still call each other daily. Make the editor’s decisions together. Discuss BURN’s future and how we should handle it. Half of the time I’m hopping between Brussels and Japan, and David’s flying from Mexico to Spain to NYC… The time zone differences are massive. We work together from different continents but we do it really well, only needing “half a word” to understand and act. This is our strength…

Of course there are people helping out right now, to whom we are massively indebted… Michael Courvoisier, Bob Black, Kerry Payne, Chris Bradley, and many others that are going to kill me for forgetting them, are all doing extremely valuable work… And of course not to forget the past work of the whole team at the infamous BURN initial meetup at the Kibbutz in NYC……. thanks a million…

David’s DAH man, but BURN is the both of us together… together making the editorial decisions, guiding the photographers to submit their work, doing the online and offline mentoring, Work-in-Progress and workshops, preparing the carefully targeted marketing of BURN, pitching the BURN story and our ideas to the right people – or at least, what we think are the right people… Looking for funding, hiring staff, freelancers and searching for talent, literally putting young photographers out there to create content for BURN, doing the same with iconic photographers, and pushing forward with the incredible stuff we still have in store…

Keep an eye on BURN… it’s massive. It’s there.

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