Nagata is interested in a city/community's ability to affect the individuals that comprise that city, and seeks to find and expose the various connections that form the reality in which the city and its people exist. The camera is a powerful tool that allows Nagata not just to approach the subject, but to capture the relationships as well as create a new relationship between himself and his subjects. By creating an intimate bond with his subjects while photographing, he is able to show their reality and their relationship to the world. For Nagata, making photographs is equal to making relationships with the world, and strives to successfully connect the viewer to this works.