I first became interested in photography after moving to Vladivostok to do a Fulbright grant in 2001. Vladivostok was so foreign to me, both culturally and geographically, that I felt compelled to convey a sense of my experience through photography. Neither my eye nor my little point and shoot camera were up to the task at the time, but my interest grew. After a few years in grad school studying Russo-Japanese relations, I could no longer ignore the fact that I cared more about photography than about the history PhD I had been pursuing. That said, my main interest still lies in exploring different cultures and sharing my experience with others -- the medium has simply changed from words to images. I am most interested culturally-informed travel photography and in documentary style photography, but I am always carrying a camera looking for photos, so not all my images meet those criteria.