Whilst on a three month residency in Kyoto, Japan, I came across a nocturnal playground scene that I found utterly fascinating and so I returned a few nights later. The type of illumination was slightly different to the lights that are used in Europe (which made the images taken in Japan appear more alien) but, as the theme and the concept behind these sites are universal, I decided to continue photographing playgrounds after my return to Europe and, so far, I have documented various playgrounds in Britain and Germany. (People often think that the strong colours are the result of digital manipulation but this is not the case at all.)
Often I gazed at you in wonder: stood at the window
begun the day before, stood and gazed at you in wonder.
As yet the new city seemed forbidden to me, and the
strange unpersuadable landscape darkened as though
I didn‘t exist. Even the nearest things didn‘t care
whether I understood them. The street thrust itself
up to the lamppost: I saw it was foreign.
Rainer Maria Rilke “The Vast Night”