I’ve been coming down with a cold lately, and the sky has stayed overcast. It made me think of a photographer named Shimamoto Marisa. I’d seen her photography before, and back then I wasn’t really fond of her overexposed treatment, even though plenty of people praised the fresh, beautiful whiteness in her work. I listened indifferently, thinking that this kind of light couldn’t possibly produce whatever people called an “airy feeling.” Thinking about it now, the heaviness I felt at the time made me overlook the beauty in those photos. Let me put up a few pictures — if you google this photographer, most of what you’ll find looks like this. A lazy cat dozing in the afternoon sun; a blue sky with sparse white clouds drifting by; the smell of beach and seawater, watching the waves catch and flash with light. I’ve fallen for this kind of treatment, letting sunlight spread over everything, and that feeling… what’s called the “airy feeling” turns out to be sunlight plus air plus water. The more I look, the more I feel how beautiful life can be, and the paleness of time seems to disappear.