Photo/Illutration This Eiji Ohashi photograph sold for 33,750 pounds (4.5 million yen, or $43,000) at a Phillips auction in London in September. (Provided by Eiji Ohashi)

SAPPORO--A photograph of a vending machine buried under a heap of snow fetched 33,750 pounds (4.5 million yen, or $43,000) at a London auction house.

The image was snapped by Eiji Ohashi, a 65-year-old resident of Sapporo’s Toyohira Ward who loves nothing better than to capture photos of vending machines in odd locations.

It portrays a lone vending machine illuminating its surroundings with a bright, whitish light, on a dark night when the capital of Hokkaido was blanketed in heavy snow.

“A landscape with a vending machine, which is unique to Japan, probably appears curious to people from other countries,” Ohashi said. “Perhaps viewers are projecting the solitude of modern-day people on the sight of a sole vending machine in snow and seeing hope in its illuminating glow in the midst of darkness.”

The photo, measuring 100 centimeters by 150 cm, was taken at Higashi-Tsukisamu Danchi Park, near the photographer’s home in Toyohira Ward, late on Dec. 24, 2016, when Sapporo experienced its heaviest December snowfall in 50 years.

It went under the hammer at the British art auction house Phillips, along with other works, in London on Sept. 25. In total, 173 images taken by 97 photographers from around the world were up for sale. Of them, 149 were bought.

Phillips organizes two photo auctions a year. The latest session, initially scheduled for this past May, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The contributors to each session include prominent photographers from across the globe, often major figures in the history of the craft.

Works by Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), known for his collection titled “The Decisive Moment,” and Robert Capa (1913-1954), the celebrated war photographer, were included in the auction.

Among the Japanese exhibitors were renowned photographers Daido Moriyama and Nobuyoshi Araki, also known as “Ararchy.”

The successful bids ranged between the equivalents of 200,000 yen and 30 million yen, placing the 4.5 million yen paid for Ohashi’s work in an intermediate price range.

Spectators say prices tend to rise based on the photographer’s name recognition, the quality of the work and the scarcity of original prints. Ohashi's work fetched a decent price in the face of his big-name competitors.

Born and raised in Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Ohashi said he remembers feeling an attraction to the rugged landscape of the far north, seeing it illuminated by a vending machine amid the drifting snow which had disrupted rail and road transportation and left towns isolated.

That experience served as the main force driving him to create numerous works featuring vending machines.

He started traveling to different corners of Japan sometime around 2008 to capture unique landscape scenes adorned with vending machines, whether it be urban street corners, parking lots, parks, empty mountainous areas and even headlands.

This particular work is part of a series titled “Roadside Lights,” a theme that pairs landscapes and nature with modern vending machines. Ohashi has been working on the series for 12 years.

Ohashi began contributing to Phillips auctions after a Phillips official discovered his works at a photo fair in Basel, Switzerland, in 2018.

His first contribution, put up for auction last year, showed a vending machine in the foreground with Mount Yoteizan towering in the night sky in the background. It sold for 20,000 pounds.

Ohashi published “Roadside Lights Seasons: Winter,” a collection of 44 photos of Hokkaido’s landscapes with vending machines, through Case Publishing in April this year.

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