In 1971 he graduated from the Wesleyan University with a degree in Asian studies and later went to Japan for seven years. He began working for the National Geographic in 1979 and since then traveled to Somalia, Sudan, England, Ireland, and Papua New Guinea. He is also an author of more than nine books about photography among which are Zheng He: Tracing the Epic Voyages of China’s Greatest Explorer, Japan: The Soul of a Nation, Marco Polo, A Photographer’s Journey, and many others. He has won numerous awards from the National Press Photographers Association and the Asian American Journalists Association.