“The one place on earth that I, and any other picture maker in the world, would consider sacred has to be a small town in central France called Saint-Loup-de-Varennes. There once was a scientist named Joseph Nicéphore Niépce who, 196 years ago, passionately captured the summer scenery he saw from the window of a certain house in that town; the resulting image became known as the first of its kind in history. Published thirty-three years ago was my own volume Lettre à St. Loup. About fifteen years after that I actually went to see that sacred place. Another couple of years later I travelled to Texas to see with my own eyes the view from the window — now no longer showing a discernible image — on display at a university centre. From there, that scenery from 196 years ago, composed exclusively of parts of light and shadow, has continued to provide me with a quiet impulse and a certain stimulus over a long period of time. This book contains all kinds of things at Niépce's old work place that I had recorded during my visit, as well as the surrounding scenery, and one frame capturing the view from the window, juxtaposed with images taken in and around my own place in Ikebukuro. He worked with a large apparatus, while I used a compact camera that easily fits into the pocket of my jeans — definitely operating on quite a different scale.” — from the afterword