Blue Water

A photobook by Keizo Motoda. This collection features monochrome portraits and street snapshots taken primarily in Osaka's Minami district and around Tokyo's Shinjuku between 1996 and 2000.

In 1996, Motoda began a series for the Osaka Shimbun called "ON THE STREET," which introduced people he met on the street through photographs and text. This book also features young people encountered in the city, passersby, and individuals standing in the night streets. Their gazes, clothing, expressions, and body language captured in a fleeting moment of passing, subtly reveal their individual lives and solitude.

From Osaka's Minami to Tokyo's Shinjuku, Motoda walks the streets, calls out to people, approaches them, and takes their pictures. His photographs convey not just observation but also the impression of a brief dialogue with the subjects. The presence of individuals who suddenly stand out in the crowd, the night lights, the humidity of the streets, and the uncertain expressions of young people. The solitude and lyricism of people wandering through the city are quietly etched in his work.

This is the first full-fledged photobook by the winner of the 33rd Taiyo Award (runner-up). It is volume 6 in the Wise Publishing Photography Series and contains 61 monochrome illustrations.

Signed presentation copy.

[Title] Blue Water
[Publisher] Wise Publishing
[Publication Date] March 1, 2001
[Page Count] 88 pages (61 illustrations)
[Size] Approx. 196 x 220mm / 460g
[Format] Hardcover
[Language] Japanese, English
[Series] Wise Publishing Photography Series 6
[Title Reading] AOI MIZU
[Author/Editor] Keizo Motoda/Author, Michitaka Ota/Editor & Producer, Toru Ohira/Editor & Producer
[Printing] -
[ISBN] 9784898300824
[Condition] Used Signed presentation copy [5] Good (Cover: minor stains, slight wrinkles on spine, Main text: minor stains on all three edges)
[Accessories] Dust jacket
[Featured In] -
[Related Exhibition] "Blue water" (Visual Arts Gallery Osaka, 2001)

Keizo Motoda (born 1971)

Born in Osaka Prefecture. Photographer.

In 1996, he began a series for the Osaka Shimbun called "ON THE STREET," introducing people he met on the street through photographs and text. This series became the origin of his current creative style. He walks the streets, meets people, calls out to them, photographs them, and captures their presence and time in his photographs.

In 1996, he won the 33rd Taiyo Award (runner-up). In 2001, his first full-fledged photobook, "Blue Water," was published by Wise Publishing. Since then, he has released "SNAP OSAKA," "street photographs," "Capella," and "SUNDAY HARAJUKU," among others. He continues to photograph the relationship between the city and people, and the distance between people, on the streets of Osaka, Tokyo, Harajuku, and Shinjuku.

He often photographs the same people again after a period of time, and a continuous relationship and dialogue with his subjects is evident in his work. He creates photographs where chance encounters on the street intersect with the outlines of individual lives.

Major works include "Blue Water," "SNAP OSAKA," "street photographs," "Capella," "SUNDAY HARAJUKU," and "Goiken Muyou."

Major awards include the 33rd Taiyo Award (runner-up) (1996).

Major collections include the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts.

< Related Figures >

Keizo Motoda, Michitaka Ota, Shinya Arimoto