THC: I don't know how much you pay attention to other photographers' work, but do you see any particular trends in photography at the moment? Where do you think photography is moving in the future?

DM: Aspects of photography will of course change over the years. But the basics of photography itself never really change; it depends on the people creating it. So I'm not really interested in future trends. I'm only interested in the current reality of me holding my camera and taking photos. I think there's really no point in speculative thinking about changes in the future. There will continue to be changes in cameras and the art of photography, changes in the possibilities available in photography due to technology, as some trends grow dominant and others become extinct, but those are issues to consider later, as they arise.

THC: How do you think changes in technology, like digital cameras and computer manipulation, are influencing photography?

DM: Similar to what I said before, the technology is already completely different now; over half of the cameras being sold currently in Japan are digital, so there are these changes taking place. In the end, however, people are the ones who use the equipment. If they don't know what they are doing, if their understanding of photography is not solid and they don't know how to use the possibilities offered to them, then no matter how much the technology improves, it doesn't do any good. But if there are people who know how to make use of the new opportunities, then photography will continue to grow and prosper. Yet I have always thought of that type of growth and change as separate from the basic fact of me taking pictures.

THC: Do you have any plans in the future, any projects that you want to work on?