Portland, Oregon (2013) Japan is the birthplace of my great-grandparents. As a child, I’ve seen images of the "motherland" that were placid and peaceful. I learned that can be true, but sometimes, it takes work to experience it. For example, in Portland’s Japanese Garden, I captured this photo by graciously elbowing my way through hundreds of snap-happy tourists surrounding this tree near the entrance of the gardens. I discovered this Zen meditation center was anything but Zen. The only way to take a photo of it without getting the throngs of humanity posing in front of it was to stretch my arms past the security fence to capture the beauty behind it.
Limited edition print for Amazon Fine Art.