What's this? Book review of Daido Moriyama's photo books.

Impressions: The "hysteric" series of photo books by defunct publisher Hysteric Glamour often featured Daido. This is one of them. The autographed copy I'm reviewing was acquired at Yahoo Japan Auctions in Dec. 2003 for 74,000 yen. Like wow.

The large format makes the 177 B/W images very impactful. I had to stand up to look at the book on the table since the images are so big. Many of the photos are on double-page spreads.

It's all miscellaneous street shots in mainly Tokyo. They are mundane and typical street scenes of people walking, crossing the street, riding in trains, etc. The only exception was the shot of a woman peeing on a busy street gutter over a storm drain in broad daylight. That was the least typical.

700-5

What's this? Book review of Daido Moriyama's photo book.

Impressions: The 42 B/W plates are street photos of miscellaneous things. There are no captions, no essays, and no hint what the book is about. I'm not sure where Nakaji is either. It could be a seaside town since the final few pictures show beach scenes.

As B/W art, the images are good. At auction, an autographed copy can go for around 45,000 yen. Incredible!

700-5

What's this? Book review of Daido Moriyama's photo book.

Impressions: Although the book's official English title is just Memories, the Japanese title means "Dreams of Water." Keep this in mind because many of the images show water: rivers, ocean, reservoir, puddles, and pond. The end of the book has a list of captions indicating the place and year of each plate.

The images have high contrast, but they are not overly grainy. They are actually quite normal and serene and not as chaotic as other images by Daido. At auction, an autographed copy can go for around 13,000 yen.

700-5