In 2020, I was commissioned by an event organizer to photograph a stage event in Shiga, Japan.
One of the performers was wheelchair dancer Kenta Kambara.
After the event, he used four of my photographs in a social media post about his performance.
Several years have passed since then.
From time to time, I see his work reaching wider audiences—on television, on major stages, and at a parade in Kobe.
Looking back at these photographs, I realized something.
When I photograph someone, I don’t know where their work or life will take them next.
I simply photograph how they are expressing themselves at that particular time and place.
Years later, when I return to the same photographs, the time captured in them can carry more meaning than it did when I first took them.
Perhaps the value of a photograph isn’t always defined on the day it is taken.
