Solarization

The heat of the Japanese summer is now known worldwide. The other day I told a French acquaintance of mine that the temperature has been reaching 35 degrees in Celsius (95 F) every day, and he asked me if the humidity was still high, so I guess it’s well known that it’s hot and humid. Traveling to Japan seems to be popular these days because of the weak Japanese yen, but it seems best to avoid midsummer.

By the way, there is an old photography technique called solarization. It is a phenomenon in which light and darkness are partially reversed in monochrome development by exposing the film to too much light. When walking under the hot summer sun, you may fall into the illusion of solarization. The sparkling light in the photo is always interesting to me.

（簡易訳）最近は日本の暑さも知られてきたらしく、フランス人の知人に相変わらず熱くて蒸してるのか？なんて聞かれる始末である。まあ、その通りなのだが、そんな中を歩いていると、光の加減が妙に見えることがある。白黒写真のソラリゼーションみたいなもので、光と影の関係が怪しくなるのである。