Photographer. Born in Tokyo in 1940. Graduated from the Department of Photography and Printing, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba University. His work “Satchin” won the 1st Taiyo (Solar) Prize in 1964. His virtually first photo book “Sentimental Journey” that he published at his own expense gives detailed description of his honeymoon, and attracted a great deal of attention. To date, he has published more than 200 photo books, and has established his own style of photography called “I-Photos.” His themes are reality and fiction, love and sex, and life and death, and his innovative methodology is widely noticed every time. Early in 2005, he held a duo-exhibition with Daido Moriyama, titled “Moriyama·Shinjuku·Araki” at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. He also held a large-scale exhibition “Self·Life·Death” at Barbican Art Gallery in London autumn 2005 through early 2006, which was deemed partly controversial.

-You’ve been judging for over ten years. Have the substance and direction of submissions changed?

No, the substance hasn’t changed. The birth of photography was over a century ago, so you can’t expect much movement over the course of a decade. Still, there are things that greatly impact a given era. Today, it’s digital, but this is just a technique - I mean, it is a form of expression. And, while it’s all well and good to take advantage of what digital has to offer it’s crucial to not neglect those things that are absolutely essential to all photography. I mean, unflinchingly photographing the most personal subjects. Men photograph women. Women photograph men. It’s not just taking pictures of things like the sky and city streets that a photographer thinks are neat (laughs). Take the love out and it means nothing. There’s an aspect of photography that has nothing to do with whether a photo is shot with digital or conventional techniques, and the photographer must consider it.

-Have you ever been surprised or made any discoveries as a judge?

Certainly, and it’s an enjoyable experience. There’s a special kind of enjoyment to be obtained from viewing the photos. A lot of photos remind me of things I did when I was younger, which is fine. Youth has an energy that I find appealing.
What’s more, looking at so many photos every year has had a kind of beneficial impact on me. It might not be direct, but there’s no doubt that it nourishes my own work. The experience of doing this somehow or other accumulates inside me, and without my realizing it shows up in my work. Ultimately, encountering a photo is no different than encountering different people. There’s nothing like encountering this huge number of freely conceived photos all at once. It’s an invaluable experience.

-Past prize winners often talk about the words of encouragement you give them.

Yes, I always try to say something, something that they can take away with them. When I won the Taiyo magazine prize, reading a commentary on my work was really eye-opening. When Ihei Kimura evaluated my work as being like a picture story show I really felt he had got to the essence of it.

-What would you like to see more of in the submissions?

There’s too much distance. Whenever people take pictures - of parents and family, of city streets, whatever - it’s at mid- to long-range. Photos should be shot at short to mid-range.

-What are you hoping to see from the submissions this time?

Conventional black-and-white photography possesses a sense of past and future, so when you grasp such a photo’s inner meaning it’s very evocative. In contrast, digital photography has only a sense of the now - which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I feel when digitals show the now really deeply, that should also be very fascinating. Digital is something that deserves our attention. So, I’m not saying that conventional black-and-white is the only way to approach photography, or that we should ignore digital techniques. Starting with either is fine - what is crucial is to broaden your work from there.
For example, you can use digital techniques to try and bring out shadows that conventional photography can’t. When a photo does that, it really grabs me. So, don’t worry about what camera to use. I am just happy to go out there, and when a special moment comes along to capture it in a photo. Now, I would rather say that we have to go back to the roots of photography.