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by Jim Wood August 10, 2026

My book is about life. It uses photos to define words like “beauty,” “love,” “happiness” and “family.” Thirty words in all.

These are photos I took over 50 years, between 1975 and 2025, while traveling the world. Over those 50 years, I visited — often in an adventurous way — Tibet, Mongolia, China, Russia, Cuba, Peru, Ecuador, Patagonia, Tanzania, Italy, Spain, France, England, California, New York City and Dubai. I also hitchhiked twice across the country, took a zillion road trips and briefly experienced Burning Man, the South Bronx, Central Park, two of Christo’s outdoor art installations and the Iraq War.

Jim Wood: “I packed a lot of photo taking into those 50 years. About a year ago, when cleaning our garage, I found boxes full of old Kodachrome slides and didn’t know what to do with them. Pitch them; they’re gone forever. Keep them, but why?

When I wiggled out a slide and held it to the light, I thought, “Wow. That’s the family I saw in Tibet back in 1986.” At that moment, the slide, to me, literally defined the word “family.” A second slide was of a woman in a red dress, alone, silhouetted by the Taj Mahal: Solitude came to mind. One photo made me think of irony; another, of desolation; with a third, the word contentment crept into my consciousness.

FULL STORY.