Back in 1992, a major airline (which I will leave unnamed) very nicely lost my art portfolio. Yes, all my graphic design work and thesis from the University of Washington, all my fine and applied art from Otis Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles, all my architecture and drawings from Scuola per Stranieri in Siena, Italy went missing. Even my cherished watercolors and drawings from high school and photos that (somehow) earned me a National Merit Award for Photography were all gone.

That same year my camera broke. Olympus had discontinued my camera, and I was crestfallen. I hung it all up, letting my frustration get the better of me.

In 2002 I picked up another Olympus – this time digital – and I started dabbling again and having a bit of fun again. It failed on my climb up Mt. Rainier, which was painful. I upgraded to a C-5060 and it did well on the summit of Merapi, a volcano in Indonesia, then it stopped working. A pattern? Now I am using a Canon EOS 20D (8.2 Mp).

While a few informal art pieces posted here are recovered from high school publications, the rest is just a fond memory. I’ll get back into the art maybe a little later, but for now I’m having fun with the pics.

As I travel around the world, I hope some of these images bring my friends and family along with me in my little – and sometimes big – adventures.

Special thanks to Jim Ponti, my first art teacher who encouraged me silently with his nudges and laughs. Very special thanks to Sri Chinmoy, who, through profound silence and outer encouragement, reignited a spark of creativity and opened doors of awareness that still has me in awe.

- Natabara