We arrived in Kyoto on April 25th, 2007—one month after William had completed six weeks of radiation therapy after his second operation performed on Jan 9th of that year. His cancer had metastasized, and there were no more methods left to try to cure it. We didn’t know how much longer he could live… three months? six months? a full year? He had little strength to take pictures or carry around his 70-pound camera and tripod and film carriers. But we took the chance and left for Japan, for we didn’t want to live our lives in fear. He was still alive and the only way for him to feel that way was to keep taking photographs. He used to say: “Photography dissolves all sense of time, and all awareness of the other parts of my life. In retrospective, though never at the time, it feels like profound happiness… All of my work is just another expression of my growth as a person… All of my photography is in the service of understanding my personal experience.”
In his photographic journey William was never meant to take documentary pictures. He was always searching for himself and attempting to grow through the camera. His photos were loved by so many people with the same goal; they sense the peacefulness in his images. He wanted to enable awareness within people. He was a spiritual photographer, and all of his images reflect his spirituality. All photographs are available for purchase. Sizes up to 4 x 10 feet.
