shashasha

First edition publication of the final issue of Workshop, an influential photography periodical published by avant-garde photography school of the same name. The limited enrollment school featured instructors Nobuyoshi Araki, Shomei Tomatsu, Masahisa Fukase, Eikoh Hosoe, Daido Moriyama and Noriaki Yokosuka, each of whom contributed to the magazine's essays and criticism. Published in Tokyo Japan in 1976, Issue 8 soley features Seiji Kurata's photography, many of which later appeared in Flash-Up and contains a number of his otherwise unpublished photos. These rare final issues of the magazine were aquired from Kurata's own personal collection.

"Seiji Kurata, a student of Daido Moriyama, has a unique photographic voice...yakuza, strippers, transvestites, Hell's Angels, memers of the untra-nationalist Black Dragon Soceity, and ordinary punters living life on the edge for an hour or two...sex, drinking, gambling and a dash of violence to spice the mix in the form of brawls, gang fights, and traffic accidents. Kurata, however, makes telling photographs from this mix. He has an unerring instinct for images that suggest stories. They are highly polished, detailed pictures, full of information, and his pioneering technique, using a medium-format camera, was much copied. His tone is distinct, cooler than Moriyama's similar to Araki's but focused moreon teh sociological, like his contemporary Keizo Kitajima...Kurata's full-on flash style and choice of subject matter has evoked easy comparisons to Weegee, but he remains resolutely his own man,"

• Parr & Badger, The Photobook: A History, Vol.1.