TOMI was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan the center of traditional Japanese culture. While making a short 16mm movie in high school, he developed an interest in film making. However, TOMI studied photography technology at Kyoto Institute of Technology. By college graduation, his love of photography blossomed when he found a studio assistant job.He learned many different types of commercial photography, by shooting all kinds of subjects. TOMI was especially interested in Food, Architecture and Product photography. During this time, he also became inspired by Group f/64 photographers like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.He relocated to New York City to pursue his career. TOMI started Studio 44 on Lispenard Street in Tribeca with his college friend, Yasu Matsutani who now shoots in Tokyo, Japan. When Matsutani returned to Japan, TOMi named his studio TOMI STUDIO.Recently, he visited Japan to attend his former employer photographer Shunji Yamaoka's memorial service. TOMI was inspired by Mr. Yamaoka's work ethic and love of photography. He had been shooting with 8x10 large film camera. TOMI decided to go back to his roots of large format film photography and as a result, began planning his new projects. Please visit this website in the near future to see TOMI's new work.
