Preface
The attack on New York, Pennsylvania and Washington on the 11th of September is a new war against the human culture and civilization. We must arrest those who are responsible and bring them into an impartial court. As a photographer engaged in journalism, I really regret that those terrible pictures will be handed down to future generations. I ask myself, "What can I do now ?", and reply to myself that now we have to reflect on the essential meanings of our lives again.

It has been 160 years since the photography was invented. As a universal language, photography has been recording a variety of human experiences. On the 4th of March 1880, a picture taken in a slum area was inserted in the New York Daily Herald. It was the first documentary photograph printed in the papers. Since then, photographers have been reporting tragic events like the First World War, the Spanish Civil War, The Second World War and the Vietnam War. Photo Journalism, which originated in 1920s in Germany, reached the peak of its popularity at the beginning of 1970s, when the LIFE Magazine sold 8.8 million copies in all over the world.

In 1952, I was deeply impressed by Edward Steichen's photo exhibition held in Tokyo, and made up my mind to be a photographer.

"To take photographs means to recognize both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's hearth on the same axis."
I always keep this Henri Cartier-Bresson's remark within my mind.

5 years ago when I was asked to take a series of photographs in Eihei-ji and Souji-ji by the Soto Sect of Buddhism, I decided to use a digital camera instead of traditional analogue cameras. In the grey of the morning, a monk runs around the cloister of the temple while ringing a small bell in his hand to wake up other monks. For the traditional cameras, it is too dark to obtain his figure without making an electronic flash, which spoils the solemnity of the service. To my surprise, the digital camera, which I brought to the temple along with a Macintosh Power Book, managed to take a picture of him quite clearly. This experience told me that, though the fundamentals of photography don't change, the technology is changing revolutionarily.

I have to have the courage to hold an exhibition of digital photographs in a nation like USA, where the digital technologies are highly developed. Today, however, I would like to send a massage somehow. The terrorism killed thousands of precious lives in an instant, now I am feeling that the meanings of our lives are being shaken violently by the new enemy.

I have no means to honor the memory of the victims, but I dedicate this exhibition to them and to those who lost their loved ones on the 11th of September, 2001.

Tomiyama Haruo

September 30th, 2001

Tomiyama Haruo is now driving a photograph exhibition held in the next year in USA.
The year of 2002 is the 750th anniversary of Dougen Zenji's death. Dougen Zenji is one of the greatest masters of medieval Zen Buddhism and found the Soto Sect of Zen in Japan.
To commemorate his great feat, more than two years, Tomiyama Haruo has been taking photographs in the temple of Eiheiji and Soujiji, the headquarters of the Soto Sect, where the permissions for entering inside and taking photographs are extremely ristricted.

The sites :We are planning to hold the exhibition in NY, Boston, Los Angels and San Francisco in 2002.The exhibition will be held in public places like railway stations, university campuses or underground stations, open to citizens of USA.

The schedule: Sometime from June to October 2002. ( August 28th is the 750th anniversary of the Dougen Zenji's death.)

If you are interested in this project, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Tomiyama Haruo Office
email: hello@ tomiyamaharuo.com
fax: +81-3-3361-4620
address:1-23-20, Kita-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.

preview "Our Day"
Since 1960, when I began my career as a professional photographer, this serial picture entitled "Our Day" has been my lifework for more than 40 years. In this series I have been trying to catch the images of vogue words of the times...(more)

Tomiyama Haruo Office: 1-23-20, Kita-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Fax: +81-3-3361-4620
email: hello@ tomiyamaharuo.com