SONY

2020 Nippon Camera Photo Contest Exhibition

The Nippon Camera Photo Contest dates back over 50 years to the monthly photo contests that appeared in Nippon Camera - Japan’s premiere “everything photography” magazine that was first published in 1950 and released every month from the ensuing year. It differs from typical photographic contests in that well-known photographers judge entries over the course of a year. Points are awarded and announced every month through the magazine, then tabulated for the year, culminating in annual prizes (meritorious awards for the Beginner category).

There are five categories - B/W Print, Color Print, Beginner, Web and Student. All attract a considerable number of entries and the caliber of work seen with winning entries is high, especially in the B/W Print and Color Print categories where it is virtually impossible to finish in a top spot for the year without racking up a victory or two during the year.

The contest sees the best from Japan’s vast domain of amateur photographers. And vast, it is, as there were 59,000 entries across all of the categories for this year’s contest, creating a monumental task for the five judges --Osamu Kanemura (B/ W Print), Bishin Jumonji (Color Print), Keita Sasaki (Beginner), Toshiki Nakanishi (Web) and Kimiko Akimoto (Student).
This exhibition presents representative works from each of the categories, all of which are the original photos submitted for judging, except for the selected works from the Web category, which were printed on silver halide paper by Shashin Kosha.

Editorial Department of Nippon Camera

Exhibitors List

B/W Print Category

  • Kenichi Ashiya
  • Takashi Uchida
  • Shinichi Okubo
  • Shigemi Ogawa
  • Norikazu Kajisawa
  • Hiroya Kawai
  • Takayuki Kubo
  • Hisashi Kobayashi
  • Ryuhei Nakashima
  • Hideyuki Hashimoto
  • Mistral

Color Print Category

  • Sanae Okamoto
  • Masaki Kato
  • Takayuki Kubo
  • Kanji Sato
  • Satoru Suzuki
  • Yasuko Suzuki
  • Manzo Tanaka
  • Shinichi Tokitsu
  • Hideo Nakahara
  • Yukio Hagiwara
  • Yukio Hatanaka
  • Mitsumasa Fujishita
  • Masanori Fujimura
  • Keiko Futahashi
  • Kenji Hosaka

Beginner’s Feature

  • Ryuichi Amemiya
  • Mitsumasa Inagaki
  • Tasumi Uemoto
  • Rumiko Egami
  • Amane Onishi
  • Masami Ogawa
  • Kiyoshi Kanemoto
  • Yasuyuki Kawaguchi
  • Keitaro Sugano
  • Akane Kinoshita
  • Hiromi Kubo
  • Shigeki Komori
  • Sekio Saito
  • Takahiro Saito
  • Shiba
  • Kunio Shimizu
  • Kanta Sugii
  • Kumiko Suzuki
  • Yosuke Takanashi
  • Eiko Tanaka
  • Hiroki Tanaka
  • Yozo Nakayama
  • Chiaki Ninomiya
  • Naomi Noguchi
  • Chiemi Hayashi
  • Haruka
  • Nobuyuki Fujii
  • Kanzo Mizusako
  • Kazuo Mizuno
  • Chika Miyake
  • Terumi Miyoshi
  • Michiko Yamakami
  • Yoshitaka Yamakawa
  • Sachio Yamaguchi
  • Masahiro Yamashita
  • Keiki Li

Web Category

  • Kazutoshi Kawakami
  • Keiko Kusajima
  • Kobayakawa
  • Yukinobu Nakagawa
  • Masato Hikichi
  • Asami Fujimoto
  • Atsuko Honda
  • Haruna Minagawa

Student Category

  • Yohei Amatatsu
  • Hitoki Omori
  • Hinata Okazaki
  • Yuki Kajiyama
  • Shinnosuke Kimura
  • Mitsuki Sumida
  • Satoki Tanaka
  • Chihiro
  • Honoka Tobayashi
  • Yui Hirauchi
  • Hayato Maihama

Profiles of judges

B/W Print Category
Osamu Kanemura

Born in Tokyo in 1964. Debuted at the Photography Biennale V Rotterdam by invite while studying at the Tokyo College of Photography. Has shown at numerous solo and group exhibitions in Japan and abroad since then. Awarded the New Photographer Prize by the Photographic Society of Japan in 1997, the Ken Domon Prize in 2000 and the Nobuo Ina Prize in 2014. Published photo collections include “I Can Tell”, “German Suplex”, and others. Most recent releases are “Living Dead Suicide ” and “Come to Life Again”.

Color Print Category
Bishin Jumonji

Born in Yokohama in 1947. Invited to show untitled works at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the “New Japanese Photography” exhibition in 1974. Has received numerous awards for his advertisement works for Panasonic and Shiseido such as the ADC Prize, the 5th Nobuo Ina Prize and the 10th Ken Domon Prize. Published photo collections include “Ran no Fune”, “Ogon Futenjin”, “Poketto ni Butsuzo” series, “Futatabi Kage”, “Arumono”, “Tsunenaramu” and others.

Beginners Category
Keita Sasaki

Born in Hyogo prefecture in 1969. After graduating from a photography school, he worked in a studio for rent and became independent after working as a photographer's assistant. He gave himself the title of "Street Corner Photographer" and has maintained his theory from the film era that "photographs are monochrome and originals are prints". The private book "Keita's Book" is on sale every month.

facebook

Web Category
Toshiki Nakanishi

Born in 1971. Began visiting Hokkaido as a student, eventually moving to Biei and using it as a base for his photographic activities in 2012. Continues to produce works on the themes of farming, light and design from the perspective of a local resident. Published photo collections include “Ordinary”’, “Design”, “Farm Landscape”, and others. Member and registered mentor of the Japanese Scenery Photographers Association, Mind Shift Gear Ambassador and Haglöfs Friend.

Student Category
Kimiko Akimoto

After graduating from the Department of Photography at Nihon University College of Art, attended graduate school at this same university. Currently teaches at her alma mater. Supportive of high school photography programs in addition to her college educative activities. Has shown natural landscape works based on the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind and emptiness, as well as urban landscapes. Participated in numerous group exhibitions besides solo exhibitions “Life in the City” and “Metamorphosis of the Landscape”. Member of the Japan Professional Photographers Society.

About Nippon Camera

Nippon Camera was founded as Kogeisha in Ginza, Tokyo on July 7, 1948. The company began publishing a bimonthly magazine titled Amateur Photography Series in October that same year. That magazine was renamed Nippon Camera in March 1951 and was published monthly in July of this year. In 1971, the company moved from Nishikubo-Tomoecho, Minato-ku to its current location in Nihombashi Ningyocho. 2018 marked Nippon Camera’s 70th year of circulation as a “magazine for discovering what’s happening now with photography and cameras”. Besides the monthly magazine, the company publishes a wide variety of mooks, photo collections and books.

日本カメラ

*Above works (from left)

A Likely Shortcut
October’s Gold Medal 2020 Grand Prize Kenichi Ashiya (Iwata)
Curious
October’s Gold Medal Yukio Hatanaka (Gujo)
Contact
November’s Choice 2020 Merit Award Chiaki Ninomiya (Matsuyama)
A House!
July’s Gold Medal 2020 Merit Award Hinata Okazaki (Tanabe)
Tomboy
October’s Gold Medal 2020 Merit Award Haruna Minagawa (Matsuyama)
Dancing on the Veranda
December’s Gold Medal 2020 Grand Prize Masanori Fujimura (Morioka)