ICON - A WINDOW TO THE BEYOND -

This photograph was taken near my office in Tokyo.

At the moment when the Tokyo Skytree aligned perfectly within the red monument,

I was enveloped in a mysterious resonance —

a harmony between abstraction and beauty — and instinctively pressed the shutter.



For those who live in Tokyo, the Skytree is an everyday sight.

Yet through this monument, it appeared entirely different — almost sacred.

That brief encounter transformed a familiar landscape into a new world.



From here, “there” looks extraordinary.

From there, “here” is also extraordinary.

What lies beneath our feet — the everyday —

may be someone else’s dream or longing.



As I reflected on this, I explored the meaning within the work.

An icon is also a mirror of the soul.

If you sense beauty or mystery when looking through it,

that same beauty surely exists within you.



To convey this feeling, I refined the tonal balance between red and monochrome,

emphasizing the dialogue between structure and emptiness.

I removed every unnecessary color,

wishing to gaze upon the “temple” beyond this visual window.



The title “ICON” comes from the Greek word for “sacred image,”

also meaning a “window between the visible and invisible worlds.”

Inspired by this,

I treated the red structure as a symbolic bridge between the ordinary and the extraordinary.



While grounded in fine-art aesthetics,

my focus was to express the mystique I felt in that instant.

Using a zoom lens, I adjusted the framing with millimeter precision,

confronting the monument’s complex geometry

and drawing out the tension hidden within its form.

The aperture was set to leave a gentle, rich tone —

as if standing at the threshold of another world.



This work continues my pursuit of finding the extraordinary within the ordinary.

“ICON” reminds us that beauty and mystery quietly dwell in the familiar —

and that the place where we stand now

is already the most beloved world of all.