Japan

In 2015, I spent several weeks in the mountains near Yudanaka, in the northern reaches of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. A landscape of deep quiet. Days would pass without encountering another person. I wandered the mountain paths alone, moving slowly through forests and valleys where stillness seemed to permeate everything. Though I was many thousands of miles from home, I felt unexpectedly at ease there. The landscape possessed a gentle, contemplative presence that invited a different pace of seeing.

Like many who travel to Japan, I arrived with certain expectations about the work I might create. Yet I made a conscious effort to set those ideas aside. Rather than seeking particular images, I chose simply to remain open to the place itself, allowing my response to emerge gradually.

The pictures that follow grew from that time of quiet observation. They are not intended as descriptions of a landscape, but as reflections of an experience – an attempt to convey something of the beauty, stillness, and subtle spirituality that seemed ever present. In their own way, they are my interpretation of a sensibility I came to associate with Japan: a meditative awareness, and a deep sensitivity to the quiet presence of the natural world.

They remain among my most cherished memories…