He is well-known for having photographed the covers for John Lennon and Yoko Ono's albums, Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey.
Shinoyama put out a large number of books of photographs of girls, dressed, mostly undressed, and nude.
On November 10, 2009, Shinoyama's home and office were searched by police on suspicion of public indecency.
The searches stemmed from concerns regarding nude photos he allegedly took in public of two women in August 2008 for his book 20XX TOKYO.
[2] On May 26, 2010 the court found Shinoyama guilty of public indecency and defiling a place of worship for photographing at Aoyama Cemetery.