In 1998 my wife and I came to Tianjin, one of the four centrally controlled municipalities in the PRC. Nearly twice the size of U.S. state of Delaware, Tianjin's population is close to 12 million. The city alone is nearly 6 million. In the last 12 years Tianjin has transformed from what was quaintly dubbed "a big village” into what can only be described as "an extremely big village," not far from Beijing. Or as my friend Jeremiah put it: “Tianjin, the city by the sea, only 80 miles east and 20 years behind Beijing.” There are times when I think two decades is hardly enough. But that's okay. I've always said, "There's Beijing and then there's China," as if Beijing is somewhere in the rest of China's future. That said, Tianjin is probably ahead of most of the rest of China.

I’ve spent a good deal of time in western China with Tibetans. In what seems like another life I also spent a good deal of time in the American West - specifically Wyoming - back in the early 80s where I worked as a sheepherder, ranch hand, fencer, woodcutter and anything else I could do to make ends meet in a part of the world where work was hard, days off only came your way when you were unemployed and money was “scarce as the rain.” My attraction to western China, specifically Qinghai, is not unrelated to that former life in Wyoming. Like Wyoming, Qinghai is both beautiful and harsh, and also like Wyoming, “wild and wonderful," though it is considerably higher (average elevation: 3,000 meters) and nearly three times as large.

When I first went to Qinghai (Tib: Amdo) I became more serious about photography, as a supplement to my daily note taking. But soon enough the photography became more demanding of my attention, and in 2007 I had my first photos published in One Night in Beijing, a dusk-to-dawn photo documentary of Beijing throughout the August 8-9, 2007 night, one year prior to the opening of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Wandering the streets of Beijing all night was an interesting way to see the city. At one point I was solicited by a fille de joie who was working the streets on a bike. She finally took my 'no' for an answer, though she also invoked her own 'no photo' rule, which was a disappointment as I watched her pedal off.

My fascination with the China Central Television Headquarters (CCTV) project began on December 4, 2007 at 10:45 in the morning. (More on that on the CCTV page.) In June 2008 the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine (CAPA), Paris showed 129 of my photos of the project in their exhibit Dans la ville chinoise, which included a large exhibition on Chinese contemporary emerging architecture. The Center of Contemporary Culture, Barcelona (CCCB) exhibited more of my photos in a show that ran from November 2008 through February 2009. The saga of this building and my ongoing fascination with it continues, and though it has slowed down a bit, I expect it will gather more steam once we move to Beijing in June 2010.