About Me

My interest in photography began as a toddler, when I would snatch my parents’ 35mm point-and-shoot film cameras to take terrible, headless pictures of my family. I became more serious about photography in high school with a Minolta SRT-202, my first-ever eBay purchase.

The digital revolution was already underway, but early cameras were expensive, clunky, and limited by terrible menu systems. I loved (and still love) the simple honesty of a fully manual film camera. Every setting is the photographer’s choice, conscious or not, so every success and every mistake is fully your own.

I attempted the transition to digital photography several times but never found a camera that matched both the look of film and the experience of shooting it. Concurrently, my love of ultralight one-bag travel was developing, and the bulk of the SRT-202, its lenses, and the film rolls themselves became harder to justify when globetrotting with only a 20L backpack. Not to mention the rising cost of film and film processing.

As smartphone cameras improved, I started leaving the Minolta behind. But then I’d return home and find myself utterly disappointed with the results. My phone pictures were always shareable but completely unfit for printing, purely documentary with minimal evidence of any conscious artistic choices.

Enter the Fujifilm X100VI: Compact, fixed-lens, with the trifecta of physical shutter speed, ISO, and aperture controls, and no stupid PASM dial. Combine that with Fuji’s renowned film simulation settings and finally I became a digital convert.

My first trip with the Fuji was to Oman. I posted some pictures to an online X100VI forum, and the feedback from strangers was incredible. I never dreamt that strangers would ask me for photography advice, let alone on the first few pictures I had taken with the camera. There was a bit of imposter syndrome (you know I’m an amateur, right?) but then I received a comment suggesting I make a travel blog. I talked it over with my wife and she wholeheartedly agreed, and here we are.

Though it was not the primary motivation for starting the blog, I love how it unshackles photo sharing from the limitations of Facebook/Instagram. It provides full creative control, and allows me to share pictures with family, coworkers, and strangers without having to be social media friends. Additionally, as I do a lot of street photography, it provides a level of legitimacy to pull up the blog on my phone if I’m ever asked why I’m taking pictures of strangers or unusual scenes.

Finally, the blog serves to replace another bygone intersection of travel and hobby. I used to travel with pen and journal to take extensive notes while on the road. Like film photography, this went by the wayside as I pared my travel kit. With the blog, I once again have place and purpose to log my thoughts.

What you won’t find here are pictures that prominently feature my wife or me. My goal is to present the atmosphere, details, and character of a place rather than center ourselves within it. This is not a document proving that we’ve been somewhere or experienced something.

As for life outside of travel and photography, I live in Northern Virginia with my wife (who requires artistic direction credit on any trip where she says “that would make a good picture!”) and our beautiful Weimaraner. Professionally, I’m currently in gynecologic oncology fellowship training. Through this blog, I hope to share a mixture of personal reflections and practical travel advice, and images that inspire you to explore the world yourself.

For more information or to inquire about prints, please email: admin[at]hystogram[dot]com