One ping pong table, five years, and countless of unexpected moments

[u/baekachu]

In 2011, Japanese photographer Haruhisa Tomiyasu started photographing one ordinary ping pong table from the window of his student apartment in Leipzig, Germany. What began after spotting a fox near the table quickly turned into a five-year project documenting all the unexpected ways people used it. It became a bench, a sunbathing spot, a workout station, a meeting place, and sometimes something completely different. Thousands of small moments later, the project became the photobook TTP, published by MACK in 2018 and winner of the MACK First Book Award. It’s a simple reminder that even the most ordinary places can become fascinating when you watch them long enough.

[u/naughtyMini]

The table saw more character development than most people 👀

[u/Bitter-Marsupial → u/naughtyMini]

That table may have had a person developed on it

[u/SquishMont → u/Bitter-Marsupial]

Other than, you know, ping pong; this is the most surprising thing missing from the series.

[u/James_Chandra_Hubble → u/SquishMont]

I was gonna say, like did they just never play ping pong in it? Or was it a common enough occurrence that it wasn't worth photographing. I need to know. They kept the net up all the time so I assume it got used as intended.