DURING the mid-1990s, Naoya Hatakeyama wandered the Tokyo streets at night, observing the patterns of lights in and around the city.

When spotting perplexing or alluring forms he would photograph each with a reduced exposure time, to eliminate insignificant detail and allow the light alone to reveal the semi abstract motifs within the image.

“I started taking pictures of this kind of light with a small camera around 1995. I got on a motorcycle every night and went out here and there and gathered only the lights of the buildings,” he said once, describing his modus operandi.