2026.7.1
Set a theme, and walk the city: a record of the 2025 photo walks (Part 1)
Even walking the same city, the scenery you see isn’t the same. At mount, aiming to feed our design input and improve our shooting skills, we’ve kept up our photo walks since January 2025. Each time, with a single theme in hand, we each head into the city with a camera. In 2025 we walked with the themes “signboards,” “round things,” “spring,” “low angle,” “numbers,” and “color walk.” A theme is a small prompt for seeing the usual city from a different angle.
Members
Photography:
Shun Watanabe
Des
Tungen Tai
Des
Marin Yamasaki
Des
Shoko Nakahashi
Dir
Nozomu Suda
Dev
Maki Katsuma
OM
Akari Yamashita
Dev
Yiwei Liu
Designer (@_Cupkun)
Natsumi Katsumata
Designer
Miyauchi
UNITBASE Inc.（@38inside）
Kazuki Nakamura
Wab Design INC.（@nkmrkztk）
Tom
（@tomonorix0805）
Contents
mount’s photo walk
A photo walk is an activity of walking the city with a camera and shooting photos in line with a theme. At mount, we decide on a single theme each time before heading out. The rule is simple: find what fits the theme, and shoot it.
Searching for shapes within the city
Round 1: “Signboards”
Our first photo walk was held in January 2025. The theme was “signboards.” We walked the roads we normally travel — for commuting and the like — paying attention to lettering and design. Shop names we always see. Signs mounted on buildings. Markers that guide the way. Not only what first comes to mind at the word “signboard,” but each member’s own idea of one, was captured in photos.
-Tai
-Yamasaki
-Nakahashi
-Watanabe
-Liu
What each person took to be a signboard. Seeing the photos and comments together conveys where in the city each of us let our eyes rest.
Round 2: “Round things”
Round 2 was “round things.” Things clearly round, like signs and windows. Things that come to look round depending on the angle and how you frame them. We walked searching for the “round” within the city. Walking the same city and searching for the same shape, what we found still didn’t match. Some photos framed the roundness itself large; others captured it together with the surrounding scenery. Precisely because the theme was concrete, it was a round where the differences in how we found and framed things came through.
-Liu
-Katsuma & Yamashita
-Watanabe
Walking the same city and searching for the same shape, what we found still didn’t match.
Some photos framed the roundness itself large; others captured it together with the surrounding scenery.
Precisely because the theme was concrete, it was a round where the differences in how we found and framed things came through.
Shooting each one’s spring
Round 3: “Spring”
Round 3’s theme was “spring.” Unlike “signboards” or “round things,” it’s a theme with no fixed shape. Flowers and plants. Soft light. The city’s colors, and people’s attire. The members who took part each shot the “spring” they felt within the city.
-Tai
-Yamasaki
-Watanabe
From the same word “spring,” what scenery did each person picture? In this round, reading the members’ comments alongside the photos also reveals the reason behind choosing a single shot.
In closing
Even a familiar city, just by walking it with a single theme, reveals things you hadn’t noticed before. Even in photos born of the same theme, each person’s differing interests and viewpoints showed through. Changing the theme each time, the photo walks continue. In Part 2, we’ll introduce the rounds held from spring onward.
