Yoshiyuki Okuyama Photo Collection BEST BEFORE

About the productJapanese

This photo book compiles in one volume the numerous client projects that photographer and film director Yoshiyuki Okuyama has undertaken over the 12 years since his debut.

A recommendation comment has arrived from Kenshi Yonezu!
Okuyama says he was greatly inspired by working with Yonezu on the music video and artist photos for "Kanden." His comments in this book reveal the relationship between the two, one that respects each other's work.

His humor always touches my heart.
I admire your ability to find and capture the light.
--Kenshi Yonezu


Since his debut in 2010, Yoshiyuki Okuyama has been actively publishing his work in numerous photo books and exhibitions, receiving the New Cosmos of Photography Excellence Award and the Kodansha Publishing Culture Award. In recent years, he has directed many popular music videos and TV commercials, making him a leader in the current creative scene.
This book is Okuyama's first collection of client work, focusing on the "client work" he has photographed in parallel with his own production, and brings together in one volume the work he has done over the past 12 years, from his debut to the present.
The quality and quantity of his work is overwhelming, including collaborations with artists such as Kenshi Yonezu, Gen Hoshino, Mr.Children, RADWIMPS, Aimyon, Masaharu Fukuyama, and Sakanaction, advertising photography for Pocari Sweat, JR SKISKI, and NTT Docomo, the main visuals for the historical drama "Kirin ga Kuru," and editorial work for globally acclaimed magazines such as "VOGUE US," as well as "GINZA," "SWITCH," and "Hanatsubaki." In addition, he has also created portraits of icons of the era such as Suzu Hirose, Masaki Suda, Yurina Hirate, Nana Komatsu, and Tsubasa Honda.
The works included in this volume were selected by Okuyama himself, and the total number of works is over 400, making it a masterpiece of over 500 pages. This volume speaks to the magnitude of the impact that Okuyama has had on the creative scene since his debut, and his unique presence.

Okuyama's works are like crystals, and are the result of sincerely engaging with clients and subjects, carefully building relationships, thinking through ideas to the limit, and repeatedly testing through trial and error. Although they are client work, they are clearly different from "advertising" or "commercial" works, and have a strength and individuality that speaks to us as "photographic expression". Okuyama's expressions do not have a superficial sense of unity in terms of color or texture, but are full of chaos, power, and innocent passion, like a room messy with children playing. From works created using meticulously calculated experimental techniques such as multiple exposures, emulsion lifts, slow synchronization, collages, copies, and photoexposures, to documentary photographs that capture decisive moments using instantaneous power, his style, which is updated with each work across genres, is something that only Okuyama, who thoroughly pursues each and every shoot, can achieve.

Okuyama's work continues to leave an impact in a wide range of areas. What is it that is so distinctively "Okuyama-esque" that permeates it all? With each turn of the page, readers will be drawn into Okuyama's unique and humorous worldview, and will have an overwhelming visual experience.

The title of this book, "BEST BEFORE," means "best before date."
This seemingly ironic title was chosen paradoxically to attest to the timeless brilliance of the works contained in this book.

Be sure to look forward to this film, which has the potential to become a milestone in visual expression for the 2010s and beyond.

■ List of contents in this book
EYESCREAM, Aimyon, Arakawa Ryoyo, Araki Yuko, andymori, ANREALAGE, Okada Kenshi, OKAMOTO'S, Casa BRUTUS, Kishii Yukino, Kimura Kaela, TV drama "Kirin ga Kuru", GINZA, Kubozuka Yosuke, CreepHyp, Quruli, Kesennuma Fisherman's Calendar, Cocco, Komatsu Nana, KOM_I, Sakanaction, Sakuma Yui, Suchmos, The SALOVERS, JR SKISKI 2019-2020, SPUR, SWITCH, Sugisaki Hana, Suda Masaki, Stephen Shore, Them magazine, Soen, Zoff, Takahata Mitsuki, Tabe Mikako, Tamaki Tina, Chiso, Chara, Terry Riley, TOMORROWLAND, TRANSIT, Nakajo Ayami, Nakano Taiga, The New York Times Style Magazine: Japan, never young beach, Yojiro Noda, Hiroki Hasegawa, Hanatsubaki, Minami Hamabe, Bijutsu Techo, HIMI, Yurina Hirate, Suzu Hirose, FACETASM x Coca-Cola capsule collection, FIGARO japon, HOUYHNHNM, Masaharu Fukuyama, BRUTUS, Yutaro Furudate, VOGUE US, Pocari Sweat, Gen Hoshino, VOSTOK...etc

Product Information

release date 2022年

Part number9784861528811

Specification Art direction: Naomi Hirabayashi
Contributions: Takahiro Ito (curator at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum), Koichi Kawajiri (editor)
Format: B5
Total pages: 512
Binding: Hardcover

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