Tom Carter
Photographer, writer and vagrant wandering across China

Tom Carter's Biography

Member Info

Member since: Dec 2011

Travel photographer Tom Carter (1973) was born and raised in the City of San Francisco and graduated with a degree in Political Science from the American University in Washington, D.C. Following a political career with a number of high-profile state and national campaigns, Tom decided to "peek over the fence" and subsequently spent 18 months backpacking down the length of Mexico, Cuba and Central America. Tom later spent one year in Japan, one year in India, and six years in the People's Republic of China, logging over 35,000 miles across the country's 33 provinces and autonomous regions. The result was his first book, CHINA: Portrait of a People, hailed as the most comprehensive book of photography on modern China ever published by a single author. Tom presently resides in a small farming village in rural southeast China while working simultaneously on several upcoming literary and photo projects.

Influences

I am a voracious reader of John Steinbeck and Pearl Buck, both whom have greatly influenced my writing. But no other author has done more to inspire both my extensive travels around the world and my passion for storytelling than Gary Jennings. His epic, 1,056-page "Aztec" was a constant companion during my 1.5 year backpacking adventure down the length of Latin America, as was "The Journeyer," which retraces the life and times of Marco Polo, on my own 35,000-mile odyssey across China. My career as a traveler, then, can best be summed up by quoting one of Jennings' wanderlusting characters (ostensibly himself): "Collect adventures and experiences to reminisce about…go to far away places, meet new people, eat exotic foods, enjoy all varieties of women, look on unfamiliar landscapes, see new things."

Upcoming Works

As a travel photographer, my next project was originally intended to be a definitive photography book about India - a follow up of my first photographic tome CHINA: Portrait of a People. As such, I spent 1 year in India (photographing roughly 1/3 of the entire country), however and unfortunately, I ran out of funds during that project and was forced to return to home-base in China, where, in between the odd photo assignment and other sources of revenue which I hope will help get me back to India someday, I have begun to seriously pursue my underused writing talents. It is my hopes that, Gods willing and the creeks don’t rise, 2012 will see all of my various non-fiction and fiction projects published.

Publishers

Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong

Getting a full picture of China - a vast country with an enormous population, a place that is experiencing sweeping cultural and economic changes - is, of course, impossible. But Tom Carter comes close. ... It's a remarkable book, compact yet bursting with images that display the diversity of a nation of 56 ethnic groups.”

—John McMurtrie, San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Book Reviews