Daido Moriyama

Daido Moriyama is praised as one of the most important Japanese photographers of these past decades. After studying graphics, Moriyama approached photography when he started to work for some important Japanese photographers. But it was only after seeing the work of the American photographer William Klein, thanks to the book Life is Good and Good for You in New York (1956), that Moriyama decided to experiment first-hand this medium, attempting to divulge, with his own camera lens, all the vitality of a city like Tokyo, in rapid transformation right after World War II.
More interested in rendering the emotions innate to the new cityscapes rather than perfecting photography techniques, Moriyama made “imperfect” images, at times seemingly abstract, succinct street diaries where the human figure seems to dissolve in the surroundings. With his abrasive and sensual style and through only seemingly random shots that enclose uncommon details, faces, and figures captured in a fleeting moment of life, Moriyama investigates the mysterious allure of daily life, in a perfect balancing act between Eastern traditions and new Western cultural influences.