I travel and take photographs. Because of my love for Europe, I have been travelling there exclusively for more than 20 years. Once I leave for a trip, I do not return for at least a month. I have gone to all the trouble to get to my destination, and so once I am there, I want to stay as many days as possible. This year, in May and June, I took a trip to Germany and France. During that time, in the city of Kiel next to Hamburg, I boarded a ship headed for Saint Petersburg in Russia. Cruising the Baltic Sea, the ship stopped at Scandinavian cities such as Stockholm and Helsinki on the way out, and made port calls at Eastern European cities such as Tallinn, Riga and Klaipeda on the way back. I experienced Scandinavia whose cities were calm and surrounded by natured, and St. Petersburg and Eastern European cities and countries which have developed rapidly since the fall of the Soviet Union. I found both to be quite appealing.

After being on a long trip for a while, the travel itself no longer seems special, and starts to feel like everyday routine. Although I encounter fewer big surprises, I still am met with small, delightful discoveries. It is at those moments that I click the shutter. A city is a living organism, so it is impossible to shoot the exact same scene twice. By capturing the moment in a photograph, it is made permanent. I would be most delighted if viewers are able to experience the casual, unpretentious scenes of Europe.