Reviews
This is a photobook documenting about two and a half years of life with Miki, the companion dog of Japanese photographer and exhibition curator Naoya Yoshikawa. At first, you focus on Miki's portraits; then you are captivated by the skill of a professional photographer who has photographed Miki with such dignity. Yet these photos were taken on an iPhone. It really makes you believe that a master never blames the tools. This book is also an essay about a happy dog and a happy family. The
This photobook shows the everyday life of Japanese photographer, exhibition curator, and photography professor Naoya Yoshikawa, his wife Kana, their son Haruya, and their dog Ricky. At its center is Ricky, a retired dog who unexpectedly became part of the family during the pandemic. The book carefully selects photos from 9,287 pictures taken on a phone. The whole process feels like a mix of fate and chance. “Happy Dog” refers to Ricky. The name Happy appears several times as the name of dogs in
Naoya Yoshikawa: Happy Dog
“Happy” was the name of a dog that had lingered in the photographer's memories. His late mother had a dog before she married; his aunt bought him a stuffed dog when he was a baby; and his family briefly kept a dog when he was young. Looking back, every dog connected to him was named Happy. Reviving these memories, the photographer decided to document his new family. Happy Dog records Ricky, whom he unexpectedly began raising just before the COVID-19 pandemic, his family, and the small neighborhood where they live. Through the dog, he began noticing scenes he had never known before: the scent of wind and river water, changing seasons and weather, dawn and midnight landscapes, and neighbors' expressions. He took these small everyday moments on his iPhone XS every day, a special experience for someone who had spent decades as a professional photographer. From 9,287 photos taken on an iPhone XS between December 2019 and June 2022, he selected 117 for a photobook first published in Japan in October 2022. Exhibitions in Tokyo, Osaka, and elsewhere brought him a different audience from the photography experts he had met at previous shows. Now he hopes to reach Korean readers with this little photobook, which reminds us of the beauty and value of everyday life.
Korean title: 해피도그
Korean author: 요시카와 나오야
Korean publisher: 토향
ISBN-13: 9788998135102
Reviews
This is a photobook documenting about two and a half years of life with Miki, the companion dog of Japanese photographer and exhibition curator Naoya Yoshikawa. At first, you focus on Miki's portraits; then you are captivated by the skill of a professional photographer who has photographed Miki with such dignity. Yet these photos were taken on an iPhone. It really makes you believe that a master never blames the tools. This book is also an essay about a happy dog and a happy family. The
This photobook shows the everyday life of Japanese photographer, exhibition curator, and photography professor Naoya Yoshikawa, his wife Kana, their son Haruya, and their dog Ricky. At its center is Ricky, a retired dog who unexpectedly became part of the family during the pandemic. The book carefully selects photos from 9,287 pictures taken on a phone. The whole process feels like a mix of fate and chance. “Happy Dog” refers to Ricky. The name Happy appears several times as the name of dogs in
