I would like to introduce you to a unique stock photography archive with thousands of images of Buddhist life. In 1977, I began photographing at the Vietnamese Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles. This resulted in the book, Taking Refuge in L.A.,published by Aperture in 1987. I have also photographed at many other Buddhist temples in America, including those where non-Asians practice Buddhism.

          Since 1985, I've made many trips to Asia to photograph Buddhist life. I lived in Japan for more than a year and I spent most of 1997 in India and Nepal photographing Tibetan Buddhist life (funded by a Fulbright Grant). In 2002, Visions of Buddhist Life, a retrospective of my photography of Buddhist life, was published by the University of California Press (see on this site) and the publication date for my next book, Tibetan Buddhist Life, from DK Publishing, is October 2003.

          The archive contains many rare and unusual images, including those of endangered traditional Buddhist cultures. There are portraits of masters, nuns, monks, and lay people, and images of monastic life, spiritual practice, Buddhist arts, pilgrimage, and more. There are also images of other Asian religions and the Parliament of the World's Religions.

          A major purpose for creating this visual record of Buddhist life over the last 25 years has been to help give people a better understanding of Buddhism and Buddhist culture. A goal for this site is to let scholars, writers, editors, and art directors know that images are available from the archive for various forms of media. The lists in the Photo Archive sub-pages can serve as a starting point for locating particular images.

Please feel free to contact me, by phone or by e-mail, and thank you for visiting the site.



I wish to thank the following organizations for their generous support for my work to photograph Buddhist life that has been accomplished to date:

- A&I Color Lab (Los Angeles)
- Asian Cultural Council
- Buddhist Association of Taipei
- Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai
- California Arts Council
- California Council for the Humanities
- Eastman Kodak Professional Division
- J. William Fulbright Memorial Fund
- Japan Buddhist Federation
- Los Angeles Buddhist Church Federation
- Metta Foundation
- Teikyoku Security Patrol Co. (Japan)
- Tourism Authority of Thailand
- Wind Records (Taiwan)

Photography by Don Farber © copyright 1998. All rights reserved. The images in this website may not be reproduced in digital or print media without permission from Don Farber.