Have you ever heard the story or feelings behind a work, and suddenly found it far more captivating?
Hello, I'm Kabe, and I run TENTEN.
As I start writing here, I've put together what I want this place to be and what I hope to do with it. I'd be glad if you took a look!
About this column
I want this to be a place for sharing photography culture and the stories behind photographic works.
Where was the photograph taken, and what was the photographer thinking?
Why was this work chosen?
What went through their mind while they were making it?
Little by little, I'll listen to and write down the kind of stories that make a work even more captivating.
This is not a place to judge whether a work is good or bad, and it's not a place to teach how to make work that sells.
I simply want it to be a place where we can enjoy things together, thinking:
"So there was a story like this behind this one photograph."
"So this is another way to enjoy it."
"So there's a culture like this."
About the person writing
I'm Kabe, the one writing these pieces.
I've always had a habit of wanting to know the background of things.
When I drink wine or coffee, I wonder, "Why does it taste like this?" When I walk through an unfamiliar town, I wonder, "How did this town come to be the way it is?" Before I know it, I always want to know the background.
Photographs are the same for me. Once, at a photo exhibition, I heard the photographer talk about the story behind a single photograph.
I had thought it was an ordinary landscape, but after hearing the story, it looked completely different. I felt a deep connection with the person who took it, and I found that fascinating.
I make zines myself, too: one collecting photographs from a solo trip to India, and another gathering memories I treasure.
When I'm shooting, I go on instinct and take picture after picture. But when I look back over the photographs to make a book, I notice, "Oh, that's how I was feeling then."
It feels like taking stock of my own way of seeing through the act of making. (I hope that comes across!)
Zines and photobooks may be the maker's personal obsessions in their purest form, and the very act of a person trying to understand someone else.
What comes next
I've started getting ready to bring photo zines and photobooks, together with the stories of the people who made them, to people who haven't met them yet.
Through photographs, I hope more people's ways of seeing and their stories can connect, with real weight.
And I want to build a platform that creates encounters with works that feel like fate. I'd love it to be a place where the individual reader and the individual work find each other.
Finally
And to everyone making zines and photobooks:
I'd be happy to hear the story of your work! Please get in touch by direct message or email.
Instagram: @tenten_official1010
Email: info@tenten-inc.com
This piece was first published in Japanese on note on September 28, 2026.