Shinoyama, who passed away in 2024, rarely apologized for Santa Fe . In a 2005 interview, he stated, "I photographed a human being, not a child. Rie had the soul of an adult actress trapped in a teenager’s body. The camera does not lie about that."
In 2023, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography held a retrospective titled Shinoyama: The 1000 Eyes , which included a dedicated room to the Santa Fe series. For the first time in 30 years, the original prints were shown to the public without digital blurring. Viewers described seeing the image at life-size as "uncomfortable and beautiful simultaneously"—exactly the reaction Shinoyama intended.