Souvenir of Hiroshima

“In this post I want to talk about one of my several hobbies”, writes lebedeff in his recently launched blog entitled “I am no photographer, this is just my hobby” and in which he presents his beautiful and sensitive portraits made in vintage style, but free from any archaizing mannerism. “I have been collecting old cameras for many years, and occasionally it happens that I receive the camera ordered via internet together with the last film left in it. Sometimes they only forget to take it out, but sometimes they do not have time for it, because of the owner’s death, a theft or other unexpected troubles. I develop these films.”


“This package was sent from Hiroshima. The seller, whom I asked, had no idea what this film is and whom it represents. It belonged probably to a previous owner of the house they bought, they found it among the belongings left there. The details point to the first half of the 1940’s, the time of the war. The number 3 written on the paper is maybe 1943. If you know Japanese, I would be grateful for a translation.” Me, who only read kanji on the basis of Chinese, and even that probably differently from how Japanese people read it, can only read the name: perhaps Kato Masaharu. If you know more, please write about it.


“The central figure of these photos is this young man who apparently came home to visit his relatives and to relax a bit. Here he is, in a kamikaze pilot suit and with a sword in the hand.”


“Here he is again in the middle, at the table, among local relatives and acquaintances.”


“Sake (the bottle is already laying on the earth), miso and the rest of festive delicacies. Apparently it was him to stand up and to shoot the next picture with timing.”


“In kimono with a young relative or his own son in the yard.”




“This can be perhaps the mother or grandmother of our hero.”




“Some automobile repair shop with friends and colleagues, in the 1940’s as it can be seen from the vehicles.”







“In all this there is something very sad and mysterious. These pictures have been waiting for more than fifty years for a person to have a look at them. The people represented on them are already all dead, and none of them has ever seen any of these photos.”