写真・文：岩崎量示
The English translation follows after the Japanese text.
〈月光とヘッドランプの先に〉
北海道に暮らし始めて、もう20年。星空の美しさは何度見ても格別だと思う。タウシュベツ川橋梁で星空を撮り始めてからも、いつの間にか10年をゆうに超える月日が経っていた。
日々、湖面の表情を変える糠平湖。視界のきかない夜にヘッドランプと月の光を頼りに橋へ向かうには日中の下見が不可欠だ。13年前の今日も、10年前の今日も、同じように足を運び、星とタウシュベツ川橋梁を撮っていた。
2005年にタウシュベツ川橋梁を撮り始めてしばらく経つと、後世に記録として残すことを本気で考えるようになった。水没と出現を毎年繰り返すことが、この橋の本質のひとつならば、を春夏秋冬、朝昼晩と移り変わる姿を撮り集める必要がある。夜の撮影は、美しい情景への欲求というよりも、必要に迫られてのことだった。
当時は現在よりも冬の冷え込みが厳しく、夜になれば－20℃を下回ることが当たり前だった。湖上を歩くと、吐く息がヘッドランプに照らされてダイヤモンドダストになる。
満天の星空の下、そのダイヤモンドダストをくぐりながら橋へ向かう体験を、そういえばここ数年していないかもしれない。
It’s been twenty years since I first moved to Hokkaido, and yet I’m always struck by how breathtaking the night sky is. I’ve been photographing the stars over the Tashubetsu Bridge for over a decade now, almost without realizing it.
Lake Nukabira changes its face every day. When visibility is poor at night, I rely on a headlamp and moonlight to guide me to the bridge, so scouting the route during the day is essential. Thirteen years ago today, and ten years ago today, I was doing exactly the same thing—walking out to the bridge to capture the stars and that iconic structure.
Around 2005, shortly after I started shooting the Tashubetsu Bridge, I got serious about preserving it for posterity. If one of the bridge’s defining features is that it appears and disappears with the water level each year, then I need to document it through every season, day and night. Taking pictures at night wasn’t so much about chasing beauty as it was about necessity.
Back then, winters were even colder than now, and it was common for nighttime temperatures to drop below minus 20 Celsius. Walking across the frozen lake, my breath would catch the beam of my headlamp and sparkle like diamond dust. Under a sky full of stars, passing through those shimmering particles on the way to the bridge—come to think of it, I haven’t experienced that in quite a few years.
Ryoji Iwasaki