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My first year abroad, the ALTs of Miyagi-ken organized a collaborative photographic project to go with the annual JET Art Show in Sendai. A single camera was past off from ALT to ALT either by hand or through the mail over the course of the year. You had about a week to capture what 'living in Japan' meant to you in one shot.

In fact, that's what the whole project was called - One Shot. It should also be noted that this was a disposable camera so you didn't actually get to see your picture till the show. After the show, someone was nice enough to scan them all in to the computer and hand off CDs to everyone involved.

Looking back at them now it's interesting to note certain themes.

photo by Amanda Wraight

photo by Chris Heyd

photo by Dave Freeborough

We were up north so I guess snow was on everyone's mind.

photo by Hannah Deacon

photo by Justin Day

We were also out in the inaka, so endless fields are an obvious choice.

photo by Phillip Wood

photo by Jae Acuncius

photo by Monique Moloney

It's strange how many people seemed to be obsessed with transportation.

photo by Mark Barr

Only a few pictures of students. I figured there'd be a lot more considering we spent more than half of our day with them but I guess we were pretty sick of 'em by that point.

photo by Selina Humphrey

Of course, technology and poor lighting conspired to produce a few images like this. Sorry, Selina... But then there were the surprising ones.

photo by Micheal Woodard

photo by Mark Cheverton

Some fun.

photo by Jackie Pang

photo by Sarah Tamoseti

photo by Maria Torres

Some well thought-out and composed.

photo by Kennard Herfel

Even stirring.

photo by William McDuff

This one may appear to be nothing more than scenery, but the poignant part of this image has to do with the fact that Will lived so close to Iwate-ken (the neighboring prefecture) he could walk down the road and turn around to see the coastline of Miyagi-ken unfolding in the distance.


And my contribution. I call it 'Year of the Dog' (it was). This guy worked at the gas station in my town. He took his job quite seriously.