Some time ago, while looking over some images that I had scanned from old negatives, my wife remarked, "You used to be pretty good". I am not sure if that was a compliment or just a comment on what I am doing now.

Photography was once an overwhelming passion, the driving force in my life. But in time it became too much and I began to think of myself more as a voyeur on life than a participant in it. So, I got rid of my camera gear and got a life.

I left photography at a time when I was starting to receive some recognition of my work. I have had images published, had done some magazine work, and was putting a collection of my work together for what I hoped to be a one man show of the images. But, single, alone, with too much time spent behind the lens or in the darkroom, I was questioning what was the point of it all. I dropped out of photography soon after my show at the Canon Salon on the Ginza, "Outback in America". Then came marriage, a family, a life.

In November of 2004 I was again traveling around Japan and I visited a village in Shirakawa Go. I became mesmerized by the light, the autumn colors and the striking thatch roof houses set against the mountains. I started snapping away with my little point and shoot and realized that I still had that photographic urge. It had never left me.

Now, decades later I have returned to my old love. I'm not sure if I will be as good as I once was, because, as my wife will tell you, I used to be pretty good. Perhaps, in time, as I add more new images, I’ll ask her for another opinion.