Derek Makishima studied fine art photography at San Jose State University, the last generation of photographers to be taught film exclusively. He moved to Nagoya, Japan in 2006 where he worked as a commercial photographer and web designer. In 2014 he moved to Tokyo where he became an ambassador for Hasselblad in 2015. In 2017 he became one of two Arri Photo Ambassadors in Japan. He considers himself a generalist though 90% of his work is in automotive photography. His work can be seen monthly in Car Sensor Edge magazine, and on occasion in Octane Magazine, Classic Porsche, GQ, MensEx etc…