Art is, in a way, creating something out of nothing. But photography, in its very essence, does not create something from nothing, it is a device for copying existing images.
Then why not start from this assumption of copying, so we can get closer to the essence of a photograph. It has no meaning to create art work by one’s own aesthetic and concepts, however, when people take photos, one’s aesthetic and memory are always included. This is a kind of everlasting contradiction. This contradiction is acceptable.
The world is not only one world, but the world itself is scattered, we just copy these scattered worlds by using photography.
Daido Moriyama, Near Equal
Realism itself is not exciting, and also conceptual and aesthetic art is not exciting. What I have to do by using photography is to think about the other important image in between, the world of the copy. Photography has no originality.
Daido Moriyama, Near Equal
If you have a camera, you can make a copy. The activity is not monopolised by professionals.
Daido Moriyama, Near Equal
Photos are not only the images which you consciously take. If there are any photos which have completely off images, once I recognise them as photos, they are photos.
Daido Moriyama, Near Equal