Without formality

The photographer's goal was to capture images of nisei as they really lived

» More photographs from the collection in Portfolio

IT WASN'T ENOUGH for photographer Brian Y. Sato to find success in his field. For 20 years, he's derived creative satisfaction and recognition in fine-arts photography, eventually coming to earn a living as a commercial photographer. It's a gig many shutterbugs would aspire to. But somehow Sato felt empty with it all.

'GOKUROSAMA' "Contemporary Photographs of the Nisei in Hawaii": » On exhibit: Through Aug. 3 » Place: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, 2454 S. Beretania St. » Gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays » Admission: $3 Hawaii residents » Call: 945-7633 or e-mail info@jcch.com » Also: Photographer Brian Y. Sato leads a tour, 10:30 a.m. July 14. On that day, admission is free. » Exhibit catalog: $12; includes 35 images

"The way I see it, there's three kinds of photography," he says. "Commercial photography, which is about money; fine-art photography, which is creative, but it's all about the photographer -- it's egocentric; and documentation photography, which isn't about the photographer at all. It's about the subject."

"I wanted a work I could leave behind that was lasting. ... I wanted to do something of social value."

Sato's contribution comes in the form of documentary portraits in "Gokurosama: Contemporary Photographs of the Nisei in Hawaii," on exhibit at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. The show features more than 35 black-and-white images of nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) at home, work and play.

Four years ago, Sato began the project after realizing there were no photos of issei (first generation) that conveyed who they were as individuals. Rather, they were always presented in the context of the plantation fields, their faces barely visible.

"So I thought, 'Who's photographing the nisei?'" he recalls. Realizing that no one was, Sato began his labor of love.

He started by shooting family and friends and eventually traveled to the neighbor islands to photograph nearly 90 nisei, whom he calls "a special generation."

"Because of the time period they lived in, with World War II and internment ... most of them went through a lot of hardship," Sato says.

"I asked one woman what she would like to pass on to the younger generation, and she said 'shimbo' -- the strength to bear hardships and persevere. It's a stereotype, I know, but most of the nisei I met were quiet and reserved, with a lot of inner strength."

It's no surprise that the photographer says he's come away from the experience enriched with appreciation for his subjects.

But "there's a sense of melancholy, too," he says. "I grew up here; this is the generation that raised me, and everybody's passing on."

One portrait captures the genial faces of a couple in Papaikou on the Big Island. Sato mentions that the man has died and his wife is now in a senior-care home.

"These people are so old -- most of them are in their mid-80s or 90s -- that in just a few years' passage of time, their lives could be totally different from when I photographed them," he says.

"We're witnessing the passing of a whole generation."