Yamamoto Masao was born in 1957 in Gamagori city, Aichi Prefecture, near the center of Honshu, the main island of Japan. He studied painting before taking up photography full time in 1993. He has published a dozen books, most recently Tori (Radius Books, 2016) and Poems of Santoka (Galerie Vevais, 2016). Other publications include: Small things in silence, (Editorial RM, 2014); KAWA=Flow (Kochuten Books, 2011); YAMAMOTO MASAO (21st Editions, 2011); Fujisan, (Nazraeli Press, 2008); é (Nazraeli Press, 2005); Omizuao (Nazraeli Press, 2003); Santoka, (Harunatsuakifuyu Sousho, Japan, 2003); The Path of Green Leaves, (Nazraeli Press, 2002) and A Box of Ku (Nazraeli Press, 1998). Yamamoto’s work has been exhibited at galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia and Brazil. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Photonews, Black and White Magazine, Unseen, and other publications and blogs.

Yamamoto Masao’s photographs are included in the permanent collections of the Princeton University Art Museum; Harvard University Art Museums; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Philadelphia Museum of Art; International Center of Photography, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; the Sir Elton John Collection, the J.P. Morgan Chase Art Collection, and many other private, corporate and public collections.

Yamamoto lives in Yatsugatake Nanroku, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan where he enjoys creating his work while being close to nature.