Nagano City, 2008 ‘Things that exist in daily life or that can be found anywhere, these are so humble and casual and they tend to be considered meaningless,’ writes Ikeda. ‘My desire is to make precious things and special images out of these subjects – transferring their beauty to a two-dimensional print. Random factors count a lot: sometimes the unpredictable result brings my photographs to a dimension beyond what I had imagined’

Photograph: Yoko Ikeda