time I later spent in art and photogra-
phy schools.
That time at St. Bede’s must have
been influential since early on you
considered becoming a priest.
During my younger years, I served as
an altar boy at St. Bede’s. I really loved
being part of the great rituals of religion,
assisting the priest at baptisms, funerals,
weddings and the Latin mass.
When I was almost 11 years old, I
went to a Catholic seminary boarding
school, St. Joseph’s College in Up Hol-
land, to become a priest myself.
The seven years there taught me
many important lessons, and there
were certain aspects of this religious
upbringing that strongly influenced
my later photographic work, such as
discipline, silence, meditation and a
sense that something can be unseen
yet still present.
In retrospect, the education was
excellent, although the career guid-
ance there wasn’t very strong onceI decided that I no longer wanted to
pursue the path toward priesthood.When did photography enter
the picture?
I always seemed to have an aptitude for
drawing and painting, so I went on to
study at the Banbury School of Art in
Oxfordshire, where I was exposed to
photography as well as many other cre-
ative mediums.
From there, I specialized in pho-
tography for three years at theKussharo Lake Tree, Study 12, Kotan, Hokkaido, Japan 2008.18 | Digital Photo Pro digitalphotopro.com