My interest in Japan and photography was born at about the same time and continues to develop side by side. Knowing nothing about Japanese culture, I married a Japanese man and started making yearly trips to visit family. Before one early visit, an old manual Asahi Pentax that had been given to my husband as a child was dug up and passed on to me. I started using this camera both as a way to learn about Japan and as a way to interact with people on whose language I have only the most tenuous grasp.

Japan is a very camera-friendly country, and although I have moved on to a Leica, strangers on the street often attempt to converse with me despite the language barrier – “Are you a camera girl?” – and are happy to be photographed. As I continue to try to understand this culture so different from my own, my curiosity hopefully results in images that reflect the respect and affection I feel for this country and its people.

The most meaningful compliment I’ve ever received on my work came from Japanese friends living in New York who said my photographs made them homesick for Japan. That told me that I was getting somewhere, that I had gotten past tourist snapshots to capture recognizable everyday moments.

I am proud to be a member of New Century Artists and to have made my exhibition debut with this organization. I have also exhibited work at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. I have taken part in a workshop with Mary Ellen Mark and am thrilled to study privately with noted photographer Toby (“Safety Last”) Old. Thanks Toby.