"I am not sure if I am successful professional photographer. If “successful professional” means I can live a good, somewhat luxurious, life by the profession, then I am certainly not. I am represented by well-established galleries in New York, Chicago, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and others, and I sell decent number of work every month. But fine art photography requires a lot of money to produce. I spend a lot for films and prints and also traveling. I work full time 5 days a week and I don’t do anything else. My expenses are almost as high as my photography income and I have so little left at the end even when I am lucky. So, maybe I am not qualified to answer this question. Then why am I doing photography? I think it is a combination of passion and stupidity. For me, photography is intellectual, artistic, and curiosity fulfilling. I love making photographs."

- Hiroshi Watanabe