The words a photograph needs

Recently, I stayed in Kure, a city in Hiroshima Prefecture, for a photo shoot. While I was there, I took this photograph.

To read this photograph, you need a few words.

The black mass in the background is a real submarine called Akishio. It entered service in 1986 and was decommissioned in 2004. It is now displayed on land at the JMSDF Kure Museum, and you can go inside. Kure is one of Japan’s major naval port cities, and it is where the battleship Yamato was built.

In front of it, two high school girls are dancing. They are probably filming a short video. Behind them is a vessel built for the possibility of war. In front of it, the two girls are spending a peaceful moment. That contrast is why I pressed the shutter.

The “you me” sign beyond the submarine belongs to a shopping mall chain in this region. The name plays on yume, the Japanese word for dream. But in English, it reads as “you and me.” It could refer to the two girls, or to the relationship between those who film videos and those who watch them. A sign that happened to be in the frame adds another way to read the photograph.