Shin Noguchi’s Strikingly Beautiful Record Of Daily Life With Three Daughters

When asked how the project began, Noguchi explains, “I lost my father who had stage four lung cancer in 2017. When I organized my father’s belongings at my parents’ house I found so many pictures of my childhood that my mother took—most of these I had never seen before.”

Discovering these pictures after his father’s passing was something of a catalyst for ‘One Two Three’, Noguchi began photographing his daughters to ease his mother’s loneliness, and to enhance his relationship with them. The ongoing project acts as a family album; granting insight into daily life in the Noguchi house, and to the big personalities of three small people. Whilst the series may be beautifully framed, less photogenic moments are also included—it is a case of documentary photography at its finest. Of his daughters as subjects, Noguchi says, “They show me such beautiful moments, I think it’s a gift…[and when] these extreme gifts appear in front of me, I can’t help but catch them.” As a seasoned street photographer, Noguchi is adept at capturing such fleeting “gifts”. When asked then, if this series was life or art, he replied, “I want to say that ‘life is art’. I never called my photography ‘art’, but definitely, my daughters show me what I feel art to be.”