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"I'd like to convey to young people the importance of contemplation in achieving a state of photographic perfection and completion."
Naturally, I appreciate the convenience and immediacy that digital cameras offer. In fact, on shoots for newspapers or magazines when time is of the essence, I can't work without them.
The important thing is to be fully aware of the fundamental difference between film and digital photos and take advantage of their respective benefits. Digital photography has a short history and is still undergoing development. I'd like to take my time to think about what it means to me and how I can make the most of its possibilities.
It must have been about six years ago when the E-1, the first E-System digital SLR camera, was introduced. At the time, I thought it was the kind of camera one would expect of Olympus, unlike other digital SLR models, which were all rather similar. I really felt the passion and spirit that had gone into its development.
Although I didn't feel quite the same way about its successor, the E-3, it had inherited the merits of the E-1, and I use it with every confidence in its dependability. And I love ZUIKO DIGITAL lenses. Take the 300mm telephoto lens, for example. Even though it provides the same performance as a 600mm lens, it's light, compact and, amazingly, still F2.8. As for the standard zoom lenses, since many of my shots are taken with the aperture opened up, I always keep a 14-35mm F2 lens handy. I can hardly wait to try an Olympus camera even goes beyond the E-1 and E-3 at bringing out the best in ZUIKO lenses.
The photos shown here were taken with the E-3. I'm very satisfied with the results, which exhibit the characteristic colors of what I refer to as the E-System's unique "digital feel".
Something new that's happened to me recently is that from this April, I started teaching at a university. Focusing mainly on film, I'll be lecturing about the joy of photography. I'd like to convey to young people the importance of loving and respecting photographs, and make them aware of how vital difficult, time-consuming techniques and effort are to the process of creating photographic work. At the same time, I'd like to go still deeper into photography so that, in a spiritual sense, my own work becomes the thing that saves me.
I'm currently working on 14 sub-themes reflecting my overall theme of nature and people. I'm also involved in an ongoing documentary project in which I've taken photos of the same woman for nearly 20 years. And I continue to shoot portraits and create works that combine images and words. There's no end to the journey of self-discovery.
Editor's Note
Yasuhiko Miyajima is back with us again after three years. As a junior high and high school student, he played rock and roll, and sold collections of original poems and sang on the streets. As a precocious youth, he had a wide range of experiences and now, as a man, he seems to be elevating himself to a higher level of achievement and awareness through ever deeper contemplation. Even while grappling with 14 themes, he says he feels no stress. I wonder whether this incredible energy comes from a mind free of materialistic desires or from an indefatigable spirit of inquiry. Either way, I look forward to seeing the creative works that spring from his deepest thoughts.
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