Prize-winning works in the “Photo and Essay Division” for high school students of the 30th Yomiuri Photo Grand Prix

Moratorium / Matsunaga Sayuri (Mie)

Message from the photographer

I knew one day we would be separated, but actually I had no idea. It felt that we would be together forever. But when I saw them go take entrance exams, once again I realized that won't be the case. We're all looking in different directions. We would no longer have dumb debates over whether Tinker Bell is a butterfly or a moth.

Not everything can be preserved in photographs. Still, I want to photograph what I'm seeing now. I wish I could take photographs during class, and since I can't do that, I just watch, taking pictures in my mind's eye: the guy asleep in an impossible posture who drops his pencil box, the fellow with the outlandish socks, the head of curls someone must have spent hours on, the couples whose eyes meet across the room now and then, the straight-out-of-bed hairdo of the student in front of me, the student moving his foot rhythmically, sunlight slating into the classroom.

Why didn't I spend more time with everybody? I am already feeling lonely. But I am having the most fun now when I am with everybody, including Pon. Girls who toil through their exam prep studies, just have a little fun, and occasionally shout out in the hallways—“I want a boyfriend”—are so adorable!

Graduation day is steadily getting closer, but even before that day we'll see less and less of each other in about a month. In that brief time, I'd love my classmates with all my might! Well, they might rather I didn't!

About the subject

I only take photographs of what I like. The majority of photographs I have taken are those of Pon. She is my model. She's a bit scary.

We have been together since elementary school, and although we are not exactly inseparable, she does take up rather a great part of my life. We've had big fights numerous times. Pon joined the guitar and mandolin club in high school. We continued to stay in touch afterwards, and when the photography club was in danger of becoming disbanded, she became a member of our club along with her own to help save it. She joined only as a model, and she was practically my own exclusive model. I chose her as my subject for this photo contest also as a way for me to look back over my high school years.