Daido Moriyama

I stumbled upon Daido Moriyama’s photography at a shop called Uchimachi Kojo (内町工場) in Mashiko (the famous pottery town) this year during my Tokyo trip.

As I ventured into the shop I found a stack of old magazines called “Record” all the way at the back of the shop. The black and white cover caught my attention and as I flipped through one of them I was immediately drawn to the images inside. There was no text, just black and white images of various locations and moments in the magazines.  At the time I was not familiar with Daido Moriyama and his works but as I was looking through his photography I felt my approach to photography was very similar to his. I decided to take one of these magazines home and do some research on Daido Moriyama later on.

A couple days later I traveled to Taipei to visit MOOM , a photography book shop I have been wanting to visit for the longest time. They stock a wide range of photography books and also curate photography exhibitions. Before going I knew they would be in between exhibitions, though I was a little disappointed by missing the latest exhibition I was still excited to check out the books. To my surprise they have an exhibition tentatively mapped out in the space and it was no other than “Record” by Daido Moriyama. The exhibition doesn’t open until a couple of weeks later so I was lucky to just walk into its preliminary set up. This chance encounter gave me a better understanding of Daido Moriyama’s work particulary “Record”. It was an on-going series of works since 1972, which embodies what he thinks is his most innate and genuine approach to photography and the way he lives. For him taking photos is like making copies of subjects. He wants to make copies of everything he sees and every moment he encounters in life. Therefore, this body of work is called “Record”. I think it can be perceived as both a noun and a verb. I feel this is very similar or relevant to my approach to photography. For me taking photos is like an innate reaction to my surroundings. It’s about observations, my observations. It’s about visibility in and among the common things that surround every body but stands out to me.

“傾聽自己內心聲音而按下的快門，坦然與自身對峙，…

最終，森山決定透過自己出版一系列小冊，試圖讓自身經歷與影像產生連結。不置入任何宣言，一冊16頁的規模，沒有固定主題，單純集結自身喜愛的作品，自己設計、自己編輯，連名字都取得很樸實——「記錄」。” 

- Record 1972–2020: Daido Moriyama Photobook Exhibition by MOOM