My recent work titled “Images of a Floating World” is a series of photographs and paintings that explore the poetry of nature and the forces of the natural world. The words "floating world" evoke the style of ukiyo-e, which is loosely translated from Japanese as "paintings of lifestyle." The term uki may also refer to "sorrow" and is associated with death and rebirth from which the Buddhists sought release. In this case, "world" may take on a meaning that is not a place, but rather a state of being; it is the pain and suffering of everyday life — like the leaf that falls from the tree and floats gentle on the water but will soon to be swept away by the currents of time. I hold on to that metaphor as I create mirrors of the natural world, bonding together technology and organic qualities.