Tokyo, 1972. Photo by Daido Moriyama.
Been digging Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama of late. Not sure I “get it” as of yet, nor understand what I’m responding to, but yeah, I’m digging it. Here are some links to his imagery online so you can dig it too:
One should obviously start with the photographer’s own site. Clicking on “Gallery” will take you to 3 of Moriyama’s books in online format (Shockwave required, and worth it!), including his first two books (Japan, A Photo Theater and Farewell Photography), long out of print. A great place to start.
Art in Context (31 images!)
Michael Hoppen Contemporary (9 images)
Assembly Language (5 images)
Michael Dawson Gallery (22 images)
artnet (9 images)
Polga (6 images, presumably with Holga)
White Cube Gallery (13 details of Polaroid installation)
Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art (22-plus images)
Getsuyosha (4 large images (scroll down) from Shinjuku book)
UPDATE (May 15, 2005): Found 10 Moriyama images at Place M gallery.
He came to my photo class a month ago. But I was stupid and ended up not going.. heard his lecture was pretty awesome!
Daido is quite inspiring. I met his U.S. publisher (Chris Pichler from Nazraeli Press) earlier this year and have spent some very pleasant and amazed time with some of Daido’s books, and since then I have been soaking up this ongoing photographic diary. It’s a gift, distinctive in its high-contrast style, and he’s a good writer, too.
–Jim