Michio Hoshino

Natural History, Dec, 2000

In a 1992 interview with Douglas Yates, the late Michio Hoshino, a native of Tokyo, spoke about photographing the wilderness of his adopted land, Alaska:

On photography: "The very best picture is one that provides meaning and variation to as many different people as possible. It must speak to the child as well as the elder who has seen a full life.... Conveying real information is the path.... Front lighting usually doesn't have the impact of dramatic backlighting, but it provides more information. It can be appreciated longer,

approached and understood more successfully."

On bears: "Wherever we go in Alaska we must think of the bear. This is the underlying tension and pressure of all our considerations while camping in the bush. The lesson of the bear teaches us to be aware of the unpredictability of the natural world.... I've learned it is good to be frightened. Bears scare me, but then I become more humble, so this tension is a necessary thing."