Inspired by Daidō Moriyama: My Adventure into Dark, Contrasty Street Photography

How I tried to emulate Daidō Moriyama’s bold techniques and what I discovered.

I’ve discovered Daidō Moriyama a few nights ago.

My traditional Youtube zapping led me to this legendary Japanese photographer and I was stunned after learning about him.

Daidō likes black, like real black. Not dark gray or really dark gray.

Black, like the night.

Mr. Moriyama has a peculiar style. He mostly shoot from chest or waist, without looking on the viewfinder to compose or nail proper exposure.

His composition is aggressive: fragments of scenes, broken composition, reflections and shadows.

His street photography style is visceral.

He makes mundane into disturbing.

I believe his favorite roll was Kodak TRI-X 400, pushed to 800 or 1600, because he likes the night. The alleys, the dark streets. The uncomfortable.

He never seek perfection: atmosphere and impact are his northern lights.

Google his pictures. They are unique in style and the feeling they transmit.

Here’s the maestro, Daidō.

Hands-on: Shooting like Daidō Moriyama

I’m still on the verge deciding if I like his pictures. What I truly enjoy are his blacks and super contrasty pictures.

However, I didn’t think my neighborhood had too much night action to go out and try it. So, I’ve decided to walk to a bit far Seven Eleven (one kilometer from my house) and start shooting like there wasn’t a tomorrow.

My set-up was far from ideal, I had only a Fomapan 400 (shot at 200) at hand, so I’ve loaded my beloved almost-point-and-shoot Konica C35 EF (one of the Andy Warhol’s favorites) and walked to the street. It was 1PM, so it was a cloudy bright day.

My intention was to understand how does it feel to shoot without composing through the viewfinder by doing it from chest or waist.

Obviously, Daidō knew his cameras better than I do. He knew how the picture from chest or waist was going to look like. For me, I was going to be the first time trying it.

Show me the pics (the good ones)

Here are the pics I believe are “good enough” for this very first try.

Show me the pics (composing failures)

I know Daidō was not looking for perfect composition, however, he had very good composing skills.

I believe that my main problem with those, was to be “slow to react and snap the picture” and shooting from my neck (I think it’s normal when you are used to compose through viewfinder and you remember you need to shoot from chest, and the camera stops a bit higher before the snapping).

I think this can be fixed with practice.

Also, please see the complete pictures. The gallery mode make them square but they are horizontal (applies for desktop).

Show me the pics (no people, but no viewfinder composing)

Technical Specs

• Camera: Konica C35 EF

• Lens: Fixed Hexanon 38mm ƒ/2.8

• Film: Fomapan 400

• Developer: Ilfosol 3

• Light Meter: In camera

• Focusing: Zone Focusing (1m, 2m, 3m, infinity)

• Scanner: Plustek Opticfilm 8100

• Post-Processing: Lightroom CC

Final Thoughts

• To achieve the Moriyama-look, I had to play a bit with Lightroom to enhance the shadows and the contrast. It was impossible to get them naturally dark at mid day. No cropping at all.

• At the beginning, those didn’t seemed my pictures. I’m more of thinking and composing before shooting, always trying to be “perfect” guy. And I believe it’s normal, I mean, this is more like trying out the style of a legend not mine (I don’t think I have it yet).

• I’ve never shot a roll so fast in my life. I’ve shot all 36 exposures in 30-40 minutes. I don’t think Daidō shot that fast. Maybe this is the real reason they don’t feel like my pictures. However, I wanted to see the results the very same day, so I needed to finish the roll quickly.

• I’m still digesting these pictures. They don’t look like me, but, they make my previous pictures kinda “boring”. These definitely have more “life” on them.

• I don’t think I’ll be shooting Daidō Moriyama often, as I want to be more comfortable composing. However, my lesson in this experiment is the most important one: don’t be afraid to shoot and get the picture even it’s not perfectly framed or focused. It’s an essential habit of street photography.

• I believe this style might work better (for my context) in a really crowded environment (like Downtown or popular areas where too much is happening at the same time).

• In the end, I’m learning new ways of shooting. Before knowing about Daidō, never crossed my mind to shoot without looking through viewfinder. I’ve done it, it felt weird, but in a nice way, as in the street, I’m always scared of someone get mad at me (I’m sorry Joel Meyerowitz, I can’t be smiling and being charming on the street yet) so I was comfortable shooting and lowering the camera real quick.

• If it happens that you are a truly Daidō Moriyama die-hard fan, please don’t get upset with my post and pictures. This is a simple try of a technique dominated by the maestro. They are nowhere closer to the impact he has in his body of work. Just chill and send tips for me to improve.

I think this was my favorite Daidō style. Say hi to my arm.

Your Turn

• Did you know about Daidō Moriyama?

• Have you tried his technique?

• Can you suggest new cool photographers with unique styles?

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