{"id":54907,"date":"2025-07-10T19:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T19:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/54907\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T19:35:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T19:35:12","slug":"tatsuo-suzuki-breaks-his-silence-i-was-never-a-fujifilm-photographer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/54907\/","title":{"rendered":"Tatsuo Suzuki Breaks His Silence: \u2018I Was Never a Fujifilm Photographer\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Screengrab from the Fujifilm X100V promo showing Tatsuo Suziki who was criticized for his behavior in the video. <\/p>\n

Back in February 2020, it was reported that Fujifilm dropped ambassador Tatsuo Suzuki<\/a> over a promotional video the brand released, which prompted criticism of the Japanese photographer\u2019s shooting style. <\/p>\n

Suzuki has been compared to Bruce Gilden<\/a> for his brash style of street photography, which involves running up to unsuspecting people to get a close photo, often with a flash. This is precisely what he was doing in a now-deleted video promoting the Fujifilm X100V. Editor\u2019s Note: The video is still online.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

At the time, viewers called Suzuki\u2019s style \u201cinvasive, aggressive, and unethical.\u201d Ultimately, the backlash saw Suzuki dropped as a Fujifilm X Photographer<\/a> \u2014 or did it?<\/p>\n

Suzuki Speaks Out <\/p>\n

Suzuki has largely stayed quiet on the subject until this month, when he appeared on the Street Life podcast<\/a>, an Australian show all about street photography \u2014 the first time he has spoken about it in an English forum. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo make it clear, I was never a Fujifilm photographer in the first place,\u201d Suzuki tells Street Life via an interpreter. \u201cI was only there for the commercial. I would like to make that very, very clear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzuki tells Mark Davidson<\/a> that he was invited by Fujifilm to appear in a video to promote the X100V, but was never a formal representative of the brand. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe way my photo style was captured in the Fujifilm commercial, it wasn\u2019t even how I photograph people in the first place,\u201d Suzuki says. \u201cWhen you go about taking photos that way, you can never get a proper shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzuki says he never received a screening of the video before it was published, adding that he would have stopped it from going out had he seen it. He says his shooting style was \u201cexaggerated\u201d in the video, and it is not reality. <\/p>\n

Suzuki says he tries to respect people on the street as much as possible and shies away from subjects who clearly don\u2019t want to have their photo taken. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only been a handful of times I have been contacted to take photos down,\u201d Suzuki says via an interpreter. \u201cThe subjects who felt uncomfortable were really respectful. There hasn\u2019t been a moment of outrage.\u201d <\/p>\n

Suzuki says he waited this long to talk about the incident out of respect for the brand, noting that he was the sole Japanese representative present at the international campaign. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt that I owed a lot to Fujifilm because out of all the photographers that were contacted for the promotional X100V series, I was the only Japanese photographer, and I felt I owed Fujifilm,\u201d says Suzuki. \u201cFujifilm did not mean any ill intent when it published the advertisement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the controversy, Suzuki had a tough time as he found himself out of work, and no one was returning his calls. But he has since recovered from the incident: continuing to shoot, publishing books, and hosting exhibitions. <\/p>\n

More of Suzuki\u2019s work can be found his Instagram<\/a> and website<\/a>. <\/p>\n