Accessing Beauty
Just as Buddhists use the breath as a tool to return to the present moment, the photographer can use the camera as a tool to access beauty wherever they are.
Monochromatic Aberration
A Manifesto for a More Wondrous Age
Latest posts
Asked and Answered
On how I found a personal motto to orient myself from moment to moment, and how you can too.
✦ Refrakt: 51 — One Mile
On running my first race in Tokyo, finding community, and taking things seriously, even if you're not "serious."
Hokkaido
Snow has always meant stillness to me—a dark place to rest. But Sapporo showed me another side.
5 Must-Watch Anime for Summer 2026
A look at 5 of the anime I'm loving so far in Summer 2026
✦ Refrakt: 50 — Black and White
Most of the time, when I press the shutter, I'm hoping to capture something I may be able to call “art.” But beyond these sorts of thoughtful or artistic captures, I want to remind myself to just shoot, too.
The Sacred and Profane
You’re walking around Tokyo, when suddenly you hear the beat of drums. You follow the sound, and before long you’re face to face with dozens of people in elaborate garb, chanting or cheering or dancing or marching or any of the above.
Reading Yourself
Plato's lost maxim.
✦ Refrakt: 49 — The Other Side
There are times where the going is good and times where the going is hard.
Growing Up with Wiki
I was listening to Wiki when we were both in high school; now he's 32. When did we get so old?
To Contribute
On Andy Anderson and Rodney Mullen, making art that advances the culture.
✦ Refrakt: 48 — Pattern-Matching
On wrapping up another training arc, focusing on Japanese study, and how it's influencing my fiction writing.
Risk and Consequence
A new framework for evaluating risk, from Alex Honnold, baseball and through the lens of "Yomi no Tsugai"
You Have What You Need
A reminder to myself on gear acquisition syndrome.
✦ Refrakt: 47 — Follow the Voice
On recent forays into new short story territory, and some fun links.
Fragile Threads
As the internet has gotten more and more narrow, more siloed, a huge percentage of my internet usage is tied up in a handful of “social media” sites. When one thread starts to fray, the whole tapestry goes pretty quick.
This App Turns Your Smartphone Into a Digicam
A look at VWFNDER + MBL, a RAW camera app for Android from Nuevo.Tokyo.
✦ Refrakt: 46 — Time Capsule
To see a World in a roll of film
Necessary Darkness
On "Tongari Boushi no Atelier," both it's strengths and limitations
From Moment to Moment
Of course, this doesn’t mean there’s no hope. It just means for now it’s going to have to come from somewhere else, and like everything, we’re going to have to be the ones that create it.
✦ Refrakt: 45 — Tuning In
In which I try to describe my creative process through as many mixed-metaphors as possible.
Exit Zero
A short note on Marie-Helene Bertino’s "Exit Zero."
Connecting the Dots
A love-letter to running.
✦ Refrakt: 44 — The Contact Sheets of Monochrome March
I rarely like to review images while I’m shooting, but sometimes, it helps.
Household Lighting Tips from a Set Lighting Technician
I spent nearly a decade working as a set lighting technician—here's how to make your house feel like a home.
My 2026 Goals: Quarter-Mark Review
Checking in on the goals I set for myself, now that we're a quarter of the way into the year.
✦ Refrakt: 43 — Cowboys
Reflecting on the writing of a new short story.
The Wheat From the Chaff
Reflecting on some ideas other writers have told me recently.
Winter 2026 Anime Retrospective
A look back at the best anime from the Winter 2026 season.
✦ Refrakt: 42 — Contact Sheets
There’s a purity to contact sheets that I find extremely appealing. One roll of film, one sheet. They are neither an enlargement or reduction; a contact print is exactly the same size as a negative.
See For Yourself
It’s hard to go into a work without any preconceived notion, but I find that in actually doing the work, the text is often much richer and deeper than I had expected.
Inevitable
You can just choose to live another way.
✦ Refrakt: 41 — Three Years on a Cold Stone
Luckily, you don't have to do those three years all at once.
Anime Quotes About Life, Art, and Meaning That Have Stuck With Me
Great dialogue lingers long after the credits roll. Here's some of my favorite quotes from anime that say something about how to live.
Reading Handke
On Handke and other cancelled artists, getting back into reading, and avoiding the trap of "TV brain prose" as coined by Lincoln Michel
✦ Refrakt: 40 — Monochrome March
The idea for Monochrome March is simple: one month, no colors.
On Kyoto
Kyoto can be a perplexing place, with its own atmosphere.
The LARP is Real
You know, like those guys who put away the D&D dice and throw on wizard robes and don foam swords to act out their character’s exploits in the nearest woods?
✦ Refrakt: 39 — Compressed Space
This makes me think two things; simultaneously urges me to both lean in and lean out.
On My First Exhibition, the photo poster project
This past weekend, I participated in a photography exhibition for the first time.
Empty Fridge
An empty fridge is annoying, but it’s a chance to start again.
✦ Refrakt: 38 — Finding the Balance
On getting back on track.
A Ping into the Dark
I grew up on single-focus forums where people added signatures to their posts, you see.
✦ Refrakt: 37 — Follow the Voice
A bit on my early fiction writing in 2026.
Journal of a Strange Land
If you can’t write about your whole self in your journal, where can you?
Getting Lost
It's a funny feeling, being lost.
The Year in Review, 2025 — Part 5, Final: Towards 2026
A bit about my hopes and goals for 2026—the stars I’ll be using to orient myself in the coming year.
The Year in Review, 2025 — Part 4: Tokyo
It’s hard to summarize such a significant change in a blog post of any length, but I’ll do my best.
✦ Refrakt: 36 — The Year in Review, Part 3: 2025 in Work
A look at my creative work in 2025.
The Year in Review, 2025 — Part 2: State of the Gray
A look at how Monochromatic Aberration and Refrakt expanded in 2025.