Edward Levinson:
Edward Levinson (Richmond, Virginia, 1953)

„I was born and raised in the USA. However all my ancestors came from Europe. My mother’s family settled in New York, my father’s in Virginia. Though I lived in the USA for 25 years, I have been in Japan for almost as long.
Seeds of the families that came from Europe were planted in the USA, sprouted, and grew heartily. Transplanted to Japan, I have adapted to the soil and nearly become a native plant.” He lives in Japan since 1980.
He studied photography at Virginia Commonwealth University. Member of Pinhole Resource, San Lorenzo, New Mexico. Pinhole workshop with Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer, Santa Fe. Printing workshop with John Sexton. Newport University, B.A. Human Behavior. Lectures and presents workshops on Pinhole Photography worldwide.
Solo exhibitions: 1995–1998: Healing Landscapes, Gallery Ten, Daimaru Dept. Store, Tokyo; Egg Gallery, Tokyo; Prinz the gallery, Kyoto; Furushima Gallery, Chiba, Japan, Cosmo Gallery, Osaka; Yufuin Museum of Art, Oita Pref. Kyushu; 1996: Sacred Japan – Myth or Reality, Gallery Ississ, Kyoto; 1998: Pinhole Photographs, Metal Museum, Chiba; Cityscapes, Gallery Ississ, Kyoto; Egg Gallery, Tokyo; Healing Landscapes and Sacred Japan, Sunshine City, Tokyo; 1999: As Time Goes By, Tokyo Photographic Culture Center, Stage; Europe deja vu, Prinz the gallery, Kyoto; 2000 July: Essence of Being, Goraku Gallery, Ginza, Tokyo; 2000 September: Pinhole Photographs, Manggha Center for Japanese Art, Krakow.
Book publications: 1991: Mother Earth Kitchen, Shibata Shoten; 1994: Living the Organic Life, Shibata Shoten; Decorating with Wild Flowers, Ie No Hikari Kyokai; First Nature with Kids: Growing Vegetables for Beginners, Iwanami Shoten; 2000: Photo Book of Seasonal Wild Flowers, Bunka Publishing Co.
Collections: Graham Nash/Nash Editions; Gallery Mayu, Tokyo; Pinhole Resource; Chesapeake Capital Corporation


Edward Levinson: „Essence of Being”

In nature there is the excitement that comes from feeling at one with creation. In the city I tune myself to people and the manmade rhythms of life. The harmonizing atmosphere I find at sacred places creates a bridge between the two.
In the troubled world in which we live there is a need for beauty and for images that are soothing to the mind and spirit. „Healing Landscapes” is an ongoing project in which I am striving to make images that open the heart of the viewer. The soft „time altered” scenes created by the pinhole camera's long exposures invoke a sense of sacredness and nostalgia.
I have found that a lensless pinhole camera best captures the essence of nature as I experience it. In my landscape photographs I want to show nature as a living, breathing dynamic being. The pinhole camera captures things on film that I sense are there but cannot necessarily see.
I believe each person has inner landscapes representing various aspects of their being and hope that my landscape photographs serve as stepping stones into these.
My „Sacred Japan - Myth or Reality” series expresses my fascination with the mood and energy I feel at temples, shrines, and other sacred places. I believe it is their openness and closeness to nature that excites my spirit.
In nature I feel the emotions of the universe. In the city, it is the emotions of humanity that move me.
Photographing the „Cityscapes” series with my pinhole cameras is an extension of my interest in people watching and photojournalism. With it's silent shutter and lack of viewfinder „technique”, the pinhole camera lets me photograph in an unobtrusive way. The long exposures allow me to observe the people and places as they interact with the flow of time. I somehow slip into their space and share their experience.
The hard lines of the buildings stand in stark contrast to the soft humans and warm light. Parks offer an oasis in what some feel is a desert. Open skies provide light through the cracks in the concrete jungle. But it is the flow of people, their ideas, and energy that gives the cities their magnetism.
The many activities of everyday living keep me busy. When I really look at life, I am able to see a bigger world and enjoy my role in it. In these moments I feel the „essence of being”. Through the magic of it all I experience the fun as well as the seriousness of life.
http://www.awa.or.jp/home/edo