All photos © Takeshi Shikama/Alan Klotz Gallery, NYC

Many of the images in Takeshi Shikama‘s series “Silent Respiration of Forests” are hand applied, platinum and palladium emulsion prints, on hand-made Japanese Gampi paper. His work is being exhibited through November 30 at the Alan Klotz Gallery in New York.

A native and resident of Tokyo, Takeshi has become an avid walker in forests. In Japan, an island nation where land is at a premium, forested areas are highly treasured, and to Takeshi the woods are mystical. As the gallery says of his Gampi paper prints, “The detail involved to create these prints, each requiring hand-coating the emulsion on the paper and contact printing the negative, reflects the intimacy and interaction that he feels towards his subject matter.”

Above: “Silent Respiration of Forests – Hokkaido Bihorotage, 2011”

“Silent Respiration of Forests – Hokkaido Shimukappu, 2011”

“Silent Respiration of Forests – Kanegasaki Komadatake #5, 2005”