自2002年開始，攝影師小野啓在日本各地為高中生拍攝肖像，為他們拍攝「希望留下的自我形象」。高中生作為群體，是年輕和青春期的象徵，但攝影師關注的是個人，是生活在日本各地千千萬萬高中生的每個獨特存在。他透過網絡招募拍攝對象，了解高中生想被拍攝的動機和對青春的想法，根據他們的感受及希望被拍攝的地點，將他們的故事及情緒、高中生們身後的家鄉背景，一一定格在照片中。

對攝影師而言，人是最神秘的，而青春期往往是個性形成的時期，高中生思考自己的未來、有獨特的想法，因此想藉著拍攝計劃了解這個群體。有別於高中生給人的活潑形象，小野啓鏡頭下的高中生從來不會微笑，作為被凝視的對象，他們直視鏡頭，有時沉思、有時顯得嚴肅；有時笨拙，有時也流露出天真。

這系列作品拍攝逾二十年，小野啓分別在2006年及2013年推出《青い光》(The Glare of Youth) 和《NEW TEXT》兩部攝影集。隨著第三部作品《A Portrait for Myself》在去年出版，正式迎來完結篇章。書名「我自己的肖像」出自他拍攝的高中生口中，他們想給人留下的印象，不是想在社交媒體發布的形象照，而是一張只屬於自己的照片。

這本攝影集收錄自2013年起拍攝的肖像，期間因肺炎疫情而被迫暫停，令小野啓一度考慮過放棄這項企劃。 在此期間，學生們不僅錯過校園生活，也失去體驗各種事物的機會，疫情對他們的影響是非常深刻的。這令小野啓思考，或許為高中生拍攝肖像、捕捉此刻的某個瞬間，能為他們的青春歲月留下特別意義。

因此，在2022年日本疫情有所放緩後，小野啓用五個月時間馬不停蹄穿梭在日本各地，拍攝多位經歷疫情歲月的高中生，嘗試透過高中生的臉孔捕捉時代氣息，將他們所處的環境與時代背景凝結起來，相片同時也記錄下日本景觀的變遷，完美地為這一系列劃下句點。

Kei Ono‘s A Portrait for Myself, 350 HKD, available at DEVEDO

Photographer Kei Ono began shooting portraits of high school students in Japan in 2002. He recruited subjects via Internet and social media, based on pre-session email interviews about why and where they wanted to be photographed—letting their feelings and wishes guide him in shaping a single portrait.

This work continued without interruption for nearly two decades until the onset of the global pandemic in 2020 forced Ono to come to a halt. Covid had robbed these teens not only of their time in school, but also of countless other opportunities in life.

Ono began to think that by capturing them at this moment, he might be able to do some good for someone out there. And so, over a concentrated period of roughly five months in 2022, once movement restrictions had been lifted, he shot portraits of students as they were after their experience with the pandemic, and with those, he brought his series to an end.

Ono’s hope while working on the series was that by capturing every student, each irreplaceable in their own way, in a portrait together with the surroundings in which they were grounded, he would ultimately also be able to document the changes in the very landscape of Japan itself. The accumulated results are portraits of his young subjects that also serve as portraits of the times.

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