Daido Moriyama

Following on from Bill Brandt's wrk, my tutor also suggested to look at the work of Daido Moriyama.

Moriyama is a Japanese photographer, born in Osaka in 1938 and is still based in Japan. His work is primarily black and white consists of mainly street photography. Tate.org (2016), described Moriyama's (as well as William Klein's) work as an "urgent, blurred and grainy style of photography" and I picked up on this quote because thats exactly how I would describe it myself. In comparing Brandt's work to Moriyama's, both have a huge range when it comes to contrast in their images, and that really packs a punch. In street/ documentary photography, you need to hone in on what you want the viewer to see and both do this well with lighting, blackening out the areas that don't matter, drawing attention to the subject of the image. Brandt's images are cleaner...sharper, emphasising textures. Moriyama's work is grainy and look as though they were captured quickly, not so much rushed, but to show spur of the moment. I feel Moriyama looked and watched for photographic opportunities and swiftly took the photograph when he had the chance. I feel this is where I might have a connection to Moriyama's work and where I can take some inspiration.

My tutor commented on the composition of my shots, saying "Even though these images are taken with a mobile, they need to refer to contemporary photography, think very carefully about compositions, try to make reference to other images. Sometimes they are too overtly 'mobile' - e.g. they are taken from that height we expect to see mobile images taken from, rather than a contemporary art or documentary shot. There is often an overemphasis on wide angle. Analyse what you have that works best. Think of them as photographs and not snaps,.." 

This is where I think I can take inspiration from Moriyama's street photography. I do tend to take photos at 'mobile' height as that is why we take them at that height because thats where the screen is in front of your eyes for you to see. Moriyama doesn't worry too much about if the shot is perfectly aligned or still and clear, he uses the fact that they are blurry and grainy as part of the art. I think I will attempt this more when shooting my own project from now on. Less focus on making the grainy images smoother/clearer, and less worrying about making the composition perfect.

Bibliography

Artsy.net, (2016), Daido Moriyama [Online], Available at: https://www.artsy.net/artist/daido-moriyama, [Accessed 20th November 2016]
Moriyamadaido.com, (2016), Daido Moriyama [online] Available at: http://www.moriyamadaido.com/english/ [Accessed 30th November 2016]
Phaidon.com. (2016), Daido Moriyama [online], Available at: http://uk.phaidon.com/store/photography/daido-moriyama-9780714864723/, [Accessed 30th November 2016]
Scaldaferri, G., (2016), Daido Moriyama?The Father of Street Photography in Japan [online], Available at: https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/daido-moriyama-the-father-of-street-photography-in-japan/, [Accessed 30th November 2016]
Takaishiigallery.com, (2016), Daido Moriyama [online], Available at: http://www.takaishiigallery.com/en/archives/6156/, [Accessed 30th November 2016]
Tate.org, (2016), William Klein + Daido Moriyama [online], Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/william-klein-daido-moriyama, [Accessed 30th November 2016]