What is the "job of photographing" plastic models and figure products?　The Hobby Industry from Showa to Heisei Era as Witnessed by Yuji Takase, a Veteran Hobby Specialist Photographer (Hobby Industry Inside Vol. 46)

During the Gunpla boom of the 1980s, magazines such as "Comic Bonbon" carried a large number of articles and advertisements for Gunpla models. Yuji Takase is a professional photographer who started out by taking pictures of plastic model advertisements and continues to take pictures of hobby products, including finished figures, as his full-time job. He is a living witness to the hobby industry from behind the scenes, admitting that "there is probably no other freelance photographer with the same amount of work experience. We spoke with Mr. Takase about the past, present, and future of the hobby industry.

Posing figures by learning the habits of suit actors

─ When did you first start taking hobby-related photographs?

Takase: About 37 years ago. My first job was taking pictures of "Real Type Zaku" and "Real Type Dom" from Bandai's "Mobile Suit Gundam" series for a magazine advertisement.

───What were you doing before that?

Takase: I was a student at a photography school. For my graduation project, I wanted to take pictures of toys, and I was going to take pictures of the "Densetsu Kyojin Ideon" toys. However, I couldn't find any "Ideon" toys on the market, so a friend gave me a Gundam Model Kits. I painted and assembled the kit all at once and took pictures under the theme of "Bandai's advertising prototype. I brought the photos of my graduation project to Bandai, and that is how I started getting work. So, if I had been able to get my hands on an "Ideon" toy at that time, I might have worked for Takara Tomy.

───Then, in the midst of the Gundam boom of the early 80's, you took pictures of plastic models for many magazines.

Takase: My seminar professor introduced me to Young Jump magazine, and I was given the opportunity to take a seven-page article introducing the plastic model works in the magazine. That article led to requests from various publishing companies.

─ ─ Did you want to go into commercial photography of toys and plastic models from the beginning?

Takase: No, I didn't think I would last even a year. I was planning to move on to fashion photography after I had finished my hobby-related work. However, I was approached by various magazines such as Shogakukan, Gakken, and Kodansha (......), and I became very busy. I was taking pictures for Comic Bon Bon magazine for "BB Senshi" and other magazines, but more and more of the work coming directly from Bandai was for jobs other than Gunpla. At that time, Bandai took product photos of Gunpla at a photo studio in Shizuoka, and rarely took photos in Tokyo. If they needed an image cutout of a Gunpla for an advertisement that was not a regular product photo, they would ask me to do it.

─ When you say "image cutout," do you mean that the background is like a universe?

Takase: For example, a picture of Teruohagakko for the package of "Buwei Phoenix Generals". In the case of the "Original SD Gundam," the image cutout would be placed on the back of the package, so I was entrusted with the entire job, from the single shot to the image cutout. Outside of the Hobby Division work, I have photographed long-running series that have been renewed or reprinted, such as the "Saint Cloth Compendium," the "S.I.C. Series," and the "GUNDAM FIX FIGURATION" of "Saint Seiya. I still get an endless stream of requests, so my workspace is filled with samples (laughs).


─ ─ But plastic models and figures were never your personal hobbies, were they? You had to learn how to take good pictures while working, didn't you?

Takase: When I was a child, I liked "Thunderbirds" and "Ultraman," so I had a vague idea of how to make them look cool. I also had a part-time job as a movie extra when I was a student, so I was able to go to various filming locations and learn about sets and lighting. Of course, in order to understand the characters to be filmed, I would watch the original video works of the products. There is a man named Seiji Takaiwa who is a suit actor in the Sentai series and the "Kamen Rider" series. Mr. Takaiwa's posing has a habit, so if I know that he is acting, I can make him pose like that when a new Rider product comes along. I have met people from the Ohno Kenyuukai during interviews, so I try to incorporate the gestures of the suit actors into the poses of the products. No one taught me how to photograph plastic models or figures, so I had to get the hang of it through a number of occasions.