Daido Moriyama Study (Copy)
Daido’s work confused me.
Daido’s black and white style has always intrigued me. Initially, I was confused when I looked at his works. What are these B&W over contrasted images of the streets that does not appear to follow any composition rules?
After continuing to go through his body of work and philosophy, it struck me. The way the man makes photographs with such primal instinct and aimlessness, you begin to understand him. As you look at each photograph, it is as if you were on the same streets as him.
“If the image is shaking, it’s OK, if its out of focus, it’s OK.”
People will say his works are not technically ‘correct’. He often shoots unorthodox compositions, blows his highlights and crushes the blacks. But someone how the photograph still work. It creates a sense of raw-ness in his work. The imperfections add to what he calls ‘snapshots’.
Photo Study:
To me what does Daido represent, teach? What is his style?
Shoot black and white: Keep it simple
Be a stray dog: Like his famous stray dog photo, wonder the streets like a primal animal. Go to wherever interests you, visit spots that you haven’t been before.
Emotion first, technicals can wait: If the shot doesn’t evoke anything, it is not a good sht/
Here are some photographs I took that were inspired by Daido’s high-contrast black and white style. A lot of these come from the film recipes straight from my Ricoh GR III.
