I bought these two photobooks in Kuala Lumpur. The bookshop Kinokuniya is based in the shopping mall under the Pertronas twin towers is an excellent bookshop with a respectable supply of quality photobooks. Actualy better than what I have seen in the Netherlands in any bookshop.

The first book is The Streetphotographer’s Manual by David Gibson. It is what it says it is: a manual for the street photographer. Gibson has an interesting wide view on what street photography is (not just close-up-Bruce-Gilden-style portraits). He provides interesting guidance and views on how to shoot more creative and interesting street photo’s. The book also includes profiles of well-known but also unexpected photographers: Trent Parke, Erwitt, Elliott, David Salomons, but also our own Caspar Claasen, and Jack Simon.

Tokyo by Moriyama and Street Photographer’s Manual by Gibson

The second book is Tokyo by Daido Moriyama. This books consists of 2 quite different parts: a color part and a silvery-print black and white part. The black and white part, the second half of the book, is printed with a special technique in which the white of the photos is printed with a silver-like color.

I very much like the color part of the book. I guess many people will detest Moriyama’s pictures of ordinary things. Also here he starts out with a picture of women’s shoes, or rather of the soles of women’s shoes. I find that very entertaining. It’s immediately clear what you can expect from the book. The balck and white part I find less appealing. Too much staring to find out what’s going on. But only the color part is already worth the money.