- This is your first appearance as a judge. What kind of works do you expect to see?

I’m a photographer myself, so in a sense, I’m on an equal footing with the entrants. Therefore, I have nothing to expect unilaterally. Rather, I’m looking forwards to having many encounters with works.

- What kind of works do you rate highly in your judgment?

I hope I’ll meet a photo that will make me feel “That’s really beautiful” from the bottom of my heart, regardless of whether it was the situation in which it was photographed or its historical context. It is almost impossible for a photo to express something beautiful in a true sense. Because we can’t avoid having something like noise, the smells of the times, or human beings coming into our photos. There might be some works such as photos of ancient buildings or temples and certain kinds of painting, which are simply beautiful beyond description. For instance, Sotatsu Tawaraya’s paintings are good examples(*). If there were any photos that realized a similar effect, I’d like very much to see it.
Also, I want to see photos that deny fundamentally the documentary nature of photography. Even photos as contemporary art contain documentary elements, to say nothing of news photos. The mechanism of photography is to expose film to light or make digital data, responding to light in front of a lens, in order to leave the form of the subject. Therefore, we can’t avoid documenting reality. I want to meet a work that will overthrow that viewpoint. If there was an unprecedented form of a new documentary photo, I’d like to see it too.
But, for all that, I think that probably a work itself springs up freely. When it’s coming up, it must be something that no one but that particular person can produce. That should be cherished. I don’t think that many award winners in the past made their works for the sake of New Cosmos of Photography. Probably, they made what sprang out of themselves into a form, and there happened to be a timely public competition, so they entered the competition. That was my case.

- Is there anything that you can think of concerning the current photo culture?

I often wonder if there are any new applications. As photography is a form of expression using a machine, the contents of a work are prescribed by the recording medium and what are used. If the same type of film is used, the finished works would look alike in some way. The same atmosphere would come out in the photos if they are taken with a 4x5 camera. If the storage format of an image is JPEG, it will become a work in line with that form. It would be fantastic if a new application can be invented. Then, I would feel a new type of photo would be likely to appear.

- Is there any photographer or artist to whom you have paid attention recently?

Works by female photographers draw my attention. For many of their works, I feel, “I can’t do it.” Recently, I have also been attracted by the existence of musicians. I don’t mean to say that I want to become a musician, but I think it’s terrific to deal with the material of sound that disappears as soon as it’s created.

- Please tell me about your present concerns and projects in which you are involved.

I published the photo book “ Cherryblossoms” last year. I’ve been taking photos of cherry blossoms for a long time, and I’m carefully studying the inner workings of my mind, and whether my interest will continue even after I have published the photo book. In addition, I want to photograph women now. As I’m greedy, I want to know how it feels to be a woman, and I’d like to probe into that feeling by taking pictures of them.

* Sotatsu Tawaraya
Sotatsu Tawaraya was a painter who lived from the Momoyama Era to the Edo period. He created a new trend in Japanese fine art with his free, broad-minded style of painting. Although he was a great painter in early modern times, the details of his biography are still unknown in spite of his fame and great influence on posterity. Even the years of his birth and death have not been identified. His most important works include “Fujin Raijin Zu Byobu (Wind God and Thunder God Screens)” of Kenninji in Kyoto.