Thank You for Your Support in 2023!

2023.12.28 BLOG

Although it's not quite ‘perfect’ yet, many people have returned to their daily lives, traveling back and forth both domestically and internationally, and of course, many overseas tourists visited Japan this year. The fall foliage season, for example, was so crowded in some places that it became a news story.
Many of the photographers we work with also went abroad, which made us realize that we could finally travel freely.

As for GR activities, ‘GR meet 47’, for which we are currently touring all over Japan, is at the top of the list.
With the recent event in Wakayama, we have completed our 29th location.
When we started this event, we wondered if we would really be able to visit all 47 prefectures, but we realized that there are only 18 places left to go (which is still quite a lot).

I would like to thank all the participants, the guest photographers, and the people at the venues and facilities for making this possible.
Thank you very much.

We are also very grateful to the many wonderful people who come to the events other than ‘GR meet 47’.Seeing you all enjoying yourselves at the events gives us a lot of strength.

Thank you for choosing GR!
We will continue to tour the country next year. So, those of you who live in each area, please stay tuned.

Now, here are the ‘Photo of the Year’ from the writers at the end of the year!

***

KYO
This year I made a conscious effort to look forward and upward. Noticing myself changing my photographic subjects and style has become one of the joys of my photography hobby.

Emi
I visited a lot of parts of Japan this year.
I once again realized that taking snapshots of scenery from a trip is something special.

Minew
I took a lot of pictures of insects and flowers with the GR III and GR IIIx this year. This was the second year that I participated in GR meet 47. It was fun to meet GR fans in Takamatsu City, Yokosuka City, and many other places. See you again next year!

Yuka
I went to many places I wanted to go with my daughters, my bike, and my GR. It's been a very fulfilling year with lots of adventures. Looking back at the photos, the memories came back to me vividly. I hope to capture the emotions.

KA-TSU
This was not a good year for star photography. It didn't even work out that well when I left the GR on the tripod hoping to get a sprite or something above the storm clouds. I hope to get out more next year.

ARA
AI photography is very popular these days. I started to try it myself, but I found that I needed more verbal skills than I thought to create prompts (instructions for creating photos). I feel like I might give up soon. Real photography is better for me.

Ninzaburo
As I wished at the beginning of the year, this has been a year of drinking with friends and meeting people. On the other hand, it was a year in which I felt a decline in my interpersonal communication skills, which I had always considered to be my strength. With this year's reflections as a foundation, next year I want to drink even more... no, I want to appreciate the encounters with people more.

Asakura
Hiroshi Hatano, who was a guest photographer at GR Meet 47 in Iwate in November, said repeatedly during the event, “If you see something, photograph it.” This phrase keeps repeating in my head. When I see something I like, I photograph it. I will keep doing that.

Inaba
I feel like I've photographed mostly people with the GR IIIx and tele-converter combination this year, so next year I'll take it out for more snapshots.

Model: Keiko Wakao (Actor, Scriptwriter, Director)　

Apprentice
This year has been hectic for me because my child will be taking exams to enter junior high school next year. Next year, I would like to slow down and have a good everyday life.

Machuko@
Every time I visit a new place for GR meet 47, I fall in love with the place. I am deeply impressed by how many wonderful places there are in Japan. I am glad that the GR has captured all the people, delicious food, beautiful scenery, and pleasant places that I have encountered in each place.