Nobuyoshi Araki (1940 - )

"If I didn't have photography," Nobuyoshi Araki has said, "I'd have absolutely nothing. My life is all about photography, and so life is itself photography."

Nobuyoshi Araki is Japan's most famous (and controversial) living photographer, raconteur and libertine. With a formidable body of work exceeding 350 books, Araki's work now spans more than fifty years. Known for his erotic, and over-the-top portraits of women, which include elements of Kinbaku (Japanese rope-tying art), Godzilla, and Tokyo nightlife, Araki's work has been collected worldwide and is part of numerous, major public and private collections.

For an interesting insight into his work, here's a wonderful interview and documentary from 1995 with the photographer Nan Goldin:

Naked City: An Interview with Nobuyoshi Araki by Nan Goldin (1995)