are, bure, boke #1

The Japanese photographers associated with the Provoke group, whose best-known member was Daido Moriyama, espoused an aesthetic of “Are, Bure, Boke,” or “rough, blurred, out-of-focus.”

There can be many reasons for blurry images – too low a shutter speed, too wide an aperture, camera shake, reflections, errors in focusing, a dirty lens – but the results can often be oddly atmospheric. I think so, anyway.


Singapore, January 2005





Tokyo, September 2010. The final set of images were shot at Shibuya Crossing.


View from 21st floor balcony of Hyatt Centric Hotel, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia, 9 February 2023. The cause of the blur in this case is humidity. As I stepped out of the air-conditioned room onto the balcony, the lens fogged. This is my favorite of the dozen or so sunset photos I took that day.



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