This Is a Zine That Reconstructs Photography.

On our phone screens, photographs are often consumed as images. We look at them for a few seconds, swipe, and move on. Another image appears, and before we know it, we've forgotten the one we just saw.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But every once in a while, I come across a zine that completely changes the way I think about photography.

Boom Bap Echoes by Atsuko Tanaka was one of those zines.

Reconstructing Photography Through Cyanotype

This zine features portraits of rappers photographed in New York during the 1990s and 2000s. However, these photographs are not presented simply as an archive of the past.

Using the cyanotype process (*1), Atsuko Tanaka transforms these images into something entirely new.

Images fixed by sunlight, unpredictable variations in tone and texture, and unique imperfections created through chance all become part of the work itself.

These qualities don't aim to reproduce the photographs as accurately as possible. Instead, they alter the meaning and emotional impact of the original images. What once functioned primarily as documentation becomes something else entirely: a physical object with its own presence and character.

When I held this zine in my hands, I found myself thinking, this zine is reconstructing photography.

*1: Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that uses iron-based light-sensitive chemicals and sunlight to produce vivid blue images on paper, fabric, and other materials.

Rethinking Photography as an Object

The appeal of cyanotype goes far beyond its distinctive blue color.

The uneven application of chemicals, the texture of the paper, and the subtle differences created by sunlight all contribute to the viewing experience. Even when using the same negative, no two cyanotype prints are ever exactly alike.

There is a trace of the maker's hand in each one, almost like visible brushstrokes in a painting.

Photography is often treated as an industrial medium. We take photographs, reproduce them, and share them widely. Cyanotype, however, pulls photography back into the realm of objects.

That physicality is what makes this zine feel so singular.

The moment we stop treating photographs solely as images and begin approaching them as objects, both our photographs and our zines can become something much more personal and distinctive.

Zines as a Medium for Reconstructing Photography

So what does it actually mean to reconstruct photography as an object?

Maybe it looks like the slight misregistration of Risograph printing. Maybe it's the dodging and burning found in darkroom prints. Maybe it's the evidence of experimentation revealed through contact sheets. Or perhaps it's the experience created through the choice of paper, size, and format.

For photographers working primarily with digital files today, expressing photographs through physical media can already be considered a form of reconstruction.

Simply placing photographs side by side in a zine doesn't fully explore the possibilities of the medium. The real potential lies elsewhere.

How will it be printed? How will it be bound? In what sequence will the photographs appear? What kind of layout best supports the work?

Through these decisions, photographs begin to take on new meanings.

And these experiments don't have to be polished. In fact, I think zines work best as spaces for experimentation. Unlike photobooks, zines allow room for rough edges, unfinished ideas, and creative risks.

It's okay if you don't have all the answers yet. It's okay if traces of uncertainty remain within the work. Sometimes it's precisely that incompleteness that captures the atmosphere of a particular moment, the urgency of an idea, or the photographer's genuine passion.

If photobooks represent one possible destination, perhaps zines are a medium for carrying the photographer's own questions, experiments and discoveries.

Photography doesn't end when the shutter clicks. There are countless possibilities waiting beyond that moment. That's exactly why I hope you'll consider making your own zine — not simply as a container for photographs, but as a medium for reconstructing them.

Featured Zine: Boom Bap Echoes by Atsuko Tanaka

Boom Bap Echoes reimagines portraits of rappers photographed in New York during the 1990s and 2000s through the cyanotype process. Memories from hip-hop's golden age emerge once again in an entirely new form.

More than a record of the past, this zine invites us to reconsider what photography can become when transformed into a physical object.

Limited copies are now available through FAR EAST DARKROOM. Once they're gone, they're gone.

Personal Notes

Thank you, as always, for reading this newsletter.

I originally planned to send these out every Tuesday, but lately I've been juggling more than I can comfortably manage: making new zines, working on new photo projects, producing YouTube videos, and trying to keep everything moving forward at the same time. As a result, these newsletters have become a bit more irregular than I intended.

And honestly, creative work can be a lonely process. I haven't seen many friends recently, so I'm starting to miss spending time with people who share this same passion for photography.

Starting June 22, I'll be exhibiting once again at TOKYO STREETS X in Shinjuku. After the exhibition, I'll probably be wandering around Shinjuku with my camera almost every day.

So if you'd like to join me for a photowalk, please come by and say hello.
I'll share more details about the exhibition on Instagram soon.

Until next time,
Yusuke N

🦖 Come hang out with me on Instagram → @_nuts.tokyo_

🪐 New videos on zines & photography up on YouTube

🧃 Curious about Japanese and Asian zines? Visit FAR EAST DARKROOM.