Daido Moriyama

Daido Moriyama is well known for his doccumentary style photographs of his travels.

When i look at his work i view it as a comic strip, time line style presentation... displaying his experiences in the order he encountered the people and places which he uses as subjects for his photographs.

The images feel spontaneous and much like the photographs by Phillip Lorca Di Corcia (previous post) in the sense that it appears the subjects are unaware they are being captured.

"The images he captures often show everyday people and everyday things in a manner not to be found in the average Tokyo tourist guidebook. Whether by using blur or cropping, Moriyama’s bleak and lonely black-and-white pictures have garnered him the reputation as one of Japan’s great modern photographers."

..."The people of Moriyama’s work are often faceless, covered in shadow or obscured by blur. It is not unusual for a backside - a couple descending stairs, for example - to be the image's main element.

His lens, often slanted at random angles, doesn’t shy away from typically unappealing bits of the urban cityscape. Building exteriors - of which maintenance is rarely a priority in Tokyo - are shot in all their drabness. Webs of utility lines and mesh fencing are often in view. A storm drain grating can be the focus of a shot."

(http://www.bigempire.com/sake/daido_moriyama.html)