Moderator Takeshi Nishikawa (hereinafter referred to as "Moderator"): What prompted you to buy a camera at that time?
Did you think you would capture the world with it?

Makoto Suda (hereinafter referred to as "M"): Not at all.
I never even considered becoming a photographer.
It was a strange encounter, truly

inevitable.

Moderator: So, you learned how to use the camera while traveling through various countries?

M: Yes.
I would grab tourists with cameras around their necks and ask them, 'What does this button do? What is this dial for? What is aperture?' and learn as I went.
I tried developing film once midway.
I had been shooting on slides, but since it was an SLR, the photos came out incredibly sharp.
When I saw them,

I thought, 'I'm pretty good at this!'

(laughs).
Incidentally, this was after I returned to Japan from my travels, but I submitted some of my photos to a contest. I received an honorable mention, so I actually won an award.
And then,

I thought, 'I really am good at this!!'

and got even more mistaken (laughs).



Moderator: The period leading up to this 『NO TRAVEL, NO LIFE』 was quite long, wasn't it?

M: After returning to Japan in '95, I held several small photo exhibitions, and each time I created flyers and sent them to various publishers. I also sent them to celebrities and writers I was introduced to.
But I was unknown, and publishers and celebrities wouldn't come to photo exhibitions where only about five small works were displayed.
If it were

Araki or Kishin Shinoyama, they would come, but...

'Who is Makoto Suda?!' (laughs).

While I was repeating this many times, a friend told me about someone named Ayumu Takahashi who was writing travel books.
I didn't know him then, but when I looked at his website... it mentioned that Ayumu often held talk events, and he was coming to Tokyo for one.
I thought, 'This is perfect!' so I emailed him, asking him to please come to my photo exhibition. I was quite surprised when I got a reply right away (laughs).
He apparently looked at the photos on my website and felt, with his animal instinct, 'These photos are good!' He replied, 'Let's collaborate in some way through A-Works!'



Moderator: There must have been various processes involved, but it took about two and a half years from the point where you said, 'Let's publish it,' right?

M: That's right.
At first, I thought, 'This might be published soon,' but there's the company, and timing is also a factor. We had numerous meetings about the direction, and it all accumulated over two and a half years.

I didn't want it to be just a travel book or a photo collection.

During that time, I provided photos for Ayumu's book "Papa BOOK" and for "WORLD JOURNEY."

Moderator: Is there anything in particular you focused on for this book, 『NO TRAVEL, NO LIFE』?



M: This book is full of my focus. Everything, you could say.
Moreover, this time, I've hidden a conceptual message within it.

It's written without writing the message, leaving room for the reader's imagination.

It's a book meant to be read with the heart.

It's fine to simply accept what I say as 'this is how it is,' but I want readers to think for themselves, interpret it, and read it as they please.

Moderator: So, it's not a book you read once and finish?

M: Exactly!
There are many hidden elements, so I hope you'll find them.
When you realize, 'Ah, this is it!!,' I think you'll be struck by it.
Of course, I can't tell you where they are.



Moderator: So, one has to read it carefully and multiple times to discover where the hooks are?

M: That's entirely up to

each individual.

Some photos might strike you with their single-page impact, while others resonate across a two-page spread.
There are parts where the message is conveyed over several pages, and parts where the entire book conveys the message.
So, rather than reading it quickly now, I hope people will read it a year or two, or perhaps five or ten years from now, and receive the message that resonates with them at that time.

(← VOL.1 is here)

Makoto Suda Profile

At the age of 34, he abandoned the status, stability, and security he had built over 10 years as a salaried worker and embarked on a journey around the world as if called. Midway through his travels, he acquired an inexpensive SLR camera and began teaching himself photography by asking fellow travelers how to use it.
Photography is himself, the journey itself, and a form of play. In the summer of 2004, he held a successful photo exhibition at a cafe within the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum. To date, he has traveled to 31 countries and works as a traveler and photographer, primarily capturing people.
Debuted in April 2007 with the word & photo collection 『NO TRAVEL, NO LIFE』.

・TRAVEL FREAK
http://www.travelfreak.jp/

---