Photo 

Natural lighting, real spaces, true faces and expressions, serendipitous situations — I take delight in capturing that which already is, rather than in attempting to create a wondrous artifice. Creation is blooming already so fully, all around us. Thus, to photograph is, to me, to conspire with the camera, to provoke a blissful encounter between Creation and its witness.

I began photographing as a child, without any instruction, on a simple point-and-shoot 110 camera. Then, in my teens, I was gifted a Pentax reflex — still using film — and my photographic adventure took off, trying out all the knob positions to find out what they did. Growing up with a stoic disposition, I was never too eager to photograph in order to capture memories, but I did bring the camera when going mountain climbing, attempting to steal away some of the mountain's and the skies' beauty.

In my life, I’ve had two photography teachers: viewing and studying, over the years, the works of great artists from around the world, and my Guru. One time, she asked: Why are you shooting this? And when I didn't know the answer, she said: You should always know what a photograph is for; that gives it its unique quality.

From the great artists, Vincent van Gogh is one of my favorites. There's a quote from him that I've carried with me through the years: Painters understand nature, and love her, and teach us to see her.

Seeing and discovering the world through a frame: what grace, what mystery!