My first job after college had me spending a considerable amount of time on the top of a mountain in Asia. That environment—the sun, the rain, the clouds—was breathtaking. I took tons of snapshots to show these wonders to my friends and family when I got back home. I was stunned to realize that the sun, the rain, the clouds were all the same here as there. I had just never taken the time to notice.

Eight years ago, my wife and I took a trip (in a former floating casino) around the western part of Japan, from Osaka to Niigata, and then by train to Tokyo. Same story. Although the trip was incredibly good, I spent a lot of my time taking pictures of the sea and sky.

Recently, I’ve become fascinated by the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto. His seascapes prompted me to look again at my most un-Sugimoto-like photos of the sea off Japan from back then.