Book Review: TO:KY:OO by Liam Wong

When I first saw Liam Wong's photographs of Tokyo online, I was amazed by his sense of aesthetics. This guy has good taste and obviously knows what he's doing.

In this book I read that he became the youngest art director at one of the largest game studios, Ubisoft Montreal, at the age of 25. This guy is seriously talented, and passionate. Today, he's a director, game designer and photographer, and was listed as Forbes magazine's influential 30 under 30. Wow.

I don't usually feature photography books on my blog but this is more than just a photography book.

TO:KY:OO is a thick 256-page hardcover that features some of the best photographs on Tokyo I've ever since. These photographs have been heavily colour edited to create a stylistic look. There's an emphasis of cyan, purples, neon colours against blacks for contrast, to make the colours stand out. One look at any photos and you can identify the style and link it back to Liam Wong. That's how recognisable they are.

Inspiration for Liam Wong comes from Akira, Evangelion and obviously Ghost in the Shell among other sources. The use of colours, composition and the whole styling remind me instantly of Ghost in the Shell mostly because Liam Wong is also trying to create this futuristic world, and he succeeds on so many levels. The colours draw you in, the details make you linger, and the composition makes you think. His photographs evokes a certain emotion in people, which was why they were so popular online.

This is a fascinating book. It's truly inspiring to see how someone can take photography to a different artistic level.

Most highly recommended.

Check out more work from Liam Wong at
https://www.liamwong.com
https://www.instagram.com/liamwong/
https://twitter.com/liamwong
https://www.facebook.com/liamwon9

-

This review copy is provided by book seller and distributor APD Singapore (website | facebook). You can get the book from them and major bookstores in Southeast Asia.

TO:KY:OO is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | AU | JP | CN)

Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.

The links below are affiliate links, which means I earn some commission from each purchase, but at no extra cost to you.

Here are direct links to the book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.com.au | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn