BREAKING IN I grew up in New Jersey and studied Asian history at Wesleyan College. I was a wannabe photographer back in 1979. I was on a roots trip in Japan - I'm Sansei (third-generation Japanese-American) and didn't speak a lick of Japanese. When I first started, it was a quick jump from hanging up my shingle and making a business card that said I was a photographer to working for the National Geographic - it only took four years. I was totally obsessed about becoming a photographer. I spent four years in Tokyo and did some freelance work. Then, I took my portfolio to the National Geographic offices in New York. I was that cocky guy who said to them, 'Hire me. I can do a better job than any of the guys you have.'
GEOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING In each of my 23 years of married life, I have travelled six months of the year. I tell people that photography is not a job, it's a lifestyle. For me, it means travelling outside the United States, usually in Asia. I've had 27 stories in the Geographic; about one a year, which is pretty typical for magazine work. I've done maybe three stories in the US and a smattering of stories in Africa. I did a couple of books in Europe. My body of work is basically 30 years of Asian and Southeast Asian history.
I am fortunate that I can still lay claim to working for the Geographic - there are only six of us left. The last two staff photographers left the magazine's payroll recently. Nowadays, we are all freelancers. It may be the end of still-photography as we know it. Newspapers are failing, magazines are failing; the future seems to be the internet. I'm only interested in the still photograph - it is the most difficult thing. It's like hitting a home run - you either get it or you don't. I've spent my life looking for great pictures.
MASS APPEAL I've become a digital photographer in the last few years. It's much simpler. Recently developed digital cameras are much better than traditional film cameras. I'm using a 24.6 megapixel Sony Alpha 900, which came out last year, and the digital files from this camera can make prints a size and quality that I cannot achieve with my 35mm film camera. The downside is that you have to work with a computer.
Digital media has opened up photography to the masses and for the professional, probably the biggest growth business is in the photo workshops. Lots of people are looking for instruction or affirmation of how good they are. I like teaching.
It has become easier to take pictures in that digital cameras are very sophisticated; auto focus, auto exposure. So there are more people trying to sell pictures. For the amount of bad stuff that is out there, there are not enough purveyors of quality. I hope the cream will rise to the top but there's no guarantee.