"Inspiration is a curious and elusive thing. We can’t just sit around waiting for it, yet it often becomes an easy excuse. Our work can’t depend on its arrival, as it doesn’t always come when we want it to. Sometimes, it hides away in the ordinary flow of our daily lives. We often hope for that spark of inspiration to create something extraordinary, believing we can’t start without it.

From my experience, inspiration is real and incredibly powerful. It’s that moment every artist longs for, but it usually finds us when we’re already deep into our work. It’s almost like magic, appearing just when we’re fully absorbed in what we’re doing. That’s when inspiration touches us and drives us forward.

That’s exactly what happened to me. I originally imagined a simple photograph—just slightly whitened water, nothing more. But when I added a bit of milk to the water, something unexpected and magical happened. The milk swirled into the water in delicate streams, forming intricate patterns and shades. The process was captivating, and I realized at that moment that inspiration had taken hold of me. What began as a straightforward idea suddenly took on new depth and beauty, far beyond what I had anticipated. This is the magic of creativity—once you take that first step, inspiration can lead you to places you never imagined.

I hope that my photography and my life can inspire others. I believe that’s one of the greatest privileges we can have and perhaps the very purpose of life itself.

The picture was taken with my Chamonix F2 large format camera on Kodak 4x5inch Tmax 400 film and I developed it in our darkroom as a handmade #platinumprint on Hawagashi paper."