FLOATING WORLD
After the hard, stressful work of critical care nursing for 40 years, my dear wife’s idea of a well-deserved retirement is kicking back on a cruise ship and being pampered. For years, I only picked up a camera when we went ashore at interesting ports like Barcelona or Singapore. For me, the ships were just the vehicle—and my pretensions saw them as too cluttered and garish a subject for FINE ART. But by 2015 I was desperate to find meaning there, so I started wandering with a camera, recording the passengers aboard and ashore, the hard-working crew, the specialized architecture, the outlandish decor and the little details that also have something to say.
The best thing about making photographs is when I’m truly surprised by what comes out of the camera, when the Muses smile on me and toss in a little extra. That’s the lightning-in-a-bottle that drives my work, and soon I was catching it in this modern version of Japan’s Edo-period “Floating World,” where pleasure and distraction were exactly the point.
As I explored the scene more deeply,, I felt the tension between the dream and the reality—the blurred border between my mundane, daily life and this carefully packaged fantasy world. It’s become my visual playground, where the veneer of elegance and glamour has worn thin after so many cruises, and the humor and irony began to show through.
Behind it all is desire—our need to be indulged, to feel blessed and to get that affirming selfie. I see cruising as a metaphor for how many of us live: Who we are in this age of distraction. As both an observer and a participant with a drink in my hand, I’m questioning, seduced and conflicted.
