This got me thinking of how I had given up photography after I studied it as a Minor of my Bachelor’s degree at Northeastern University. My major was Computer Science, something neither department had ever seen before. Computer nerds and artists? They don’t go together at all!

How things have changed.

My main complaint with photography after graduating was that I had grown spoiled having access to their huge darkroom, which allowed me to produce both black & white and color prints with complete control.

I was always disappointed with the results I got when sending my film out to be developed.

I put my photography “on pause” and thought, “When I get into my 40s, maybe I’ll have time to take it up again.”

Being 45 at the time of my divorce, this seemed right on target.

The advantage of digital photography, of course, was that I had the full control of my university darkroom, without all the chemicals, which I could happily do without.

The other advantage that photography offered was that it gave me something to do with the 6 weeks of vacation we get in Denmark. It gave me a goal when travelling alone, and I would have the time to immerse myself in creating art, without feeling guilty for the time it took away from “family” (my wife and I never had kids, but we spent most of our free time together and even my desire to practice piano daily caused some friction).

I published my pictures on Flickr, which gave a nice community that reminded me of working in my college darkroom.

I did not really have any ambition to put my work in a book until my mom, living across the Atlantic, commented on some large prints I have up on my walls during a Skype call. I realized I could share the fruits of her wisdom with her through a book, which I quickly through together from my favorites of the first 5 years of this renewed passion.

I produced the book with Blurb and I bought a small number of copies and sent them to friends and family. I initially allowed Blurb to sell the book at no profit to me, but no one ever bought it (I never promoted it, and you can read on the back cover that I didn’t really feel comfortable having the book available “for sale”).

Perhaps I’ll explain some day on another page of this site. For now, you’re welcome to download the full book as a PDF if you’re interested.

Enjoy!