Night portraits of Japanese taxi drivers

Photographer Oleg Tolstoy can be considered more like a storyteller inspired by the social dynamics of megacities. In the continuation of his famous series of pictures "Who is taking you?" In 2015, where he photographed black cab drivers and Uber drivers in London, the photographer went to Tokyo. The idea of ​​his new project is a frank look at professional drivers, men and women, who move passengers around the busy Japanese city.

To the question: "Why Tokyo?" Tolstoy replies: "When I visited Tokyo 10 years ago, I was fascinated by taxi drivers who wore snow-white gloves and suits. It was as if they were from a different era, a more sophisticated and stylish era.". In the photographs of Oleg through the windshield we see every driver, and sometimes a pensive passenger traveling somewhere in their imagination and thoughts. White gloves with them, in silence they patiently wait for the start of movement.

But there is something else that fundamentally distinguishes Tokyo taxi drivers from their British counterparts. "I would say that London drivers want to be listened to, they like to communicate with their customers and keep in touch all the way. While the drivers from Tokyo seem very calm, and compared to the British, they are completely" absent " "- says the photographer.

Watch the video: tokyo night 2010 (May 2024).