Japanese photographer Kazuhiro Ueda’s work features intimate moments discovered in the bustle of city life. To find his subjects, Ueda enjoys walking the streets of his home city, Tokyo and other cities abroad. He will sometimes walk as long as seven to eight hours at a time, waiting for inspiration to strike him and for a scene to provoke an emotional response. To give his images their characteristic soft and nostalgic quality, Ueda utilize the “bokeh“ effect, a photographic technique that produces out-of-focus blurring. He also uses a large 50 mm lens to create a shallow depth of field in his images that produces a dream-like effect.

In “Tender of the Night Fog” we see a cityscape in soft focus. Bright clouds of fog envelop the frame and seem to embrace the buildings and inhabitants of the city. Ueda uses an off-balance perspective, which gives the buildings and street the appearance of being askew, and bestows them with a fragile and human quality. The tenderness of Ueda’s composition conveys his deep personal connection to his subjects. Ueda portrays the city as a living being with a palpable sense of vulnerability and longing.