From Soldier to Sojourner

“Soldier to Sojourner” is my photographic impression of North Asia in the 1970s. I spent over a year as an Officer in the U.S. Army in South Korea and close to two years travelling throughout Asia first as a backpacker and later as a freak.
These photographs are a companion piece to my written travel journal, surprisingly also called “Soldier to Sojourner”, but these images are not “comic book” illustrations of the written words. The people, places, and events I photographed “through a lens darkly” have an independent life of their own (My God, the Monster lives!)
I have documented a time, the 1970s, before the all-pervading Western culture (Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll in Levi’s) and The Economic Miracle changed Asia irrevocably.
Each day in my journey brought new enchantments, incredible beauty, sordid ugliness, joy, and suffering that I tried to capture with my camera.
The Asia of Conrad and Maughan is gone, and the war-torn Asia of Vietnam will also pass; every generation discovers a “new”, exotic Asia: This is my snapshot vision of Asia. Enjoy!