As soon as I walked out of Amsterdam Central Station, I immediately felt at home. Locked to anything that couldn't be easily carried off, where thousands of bicycles.

Since I didn't have my bike with me, I was on foot the whole time, but it's a very easy city to navigate on foot as well. There's a great art vibe there that just hangs in the air.

It remains one of my favorite cities in the world.

I've lived in Chicago my whole life. I've traveled all over the world, but I always come back to Chicago. Yet I very rarely photograph this world class city.

My intent was to make images of Chicago that had a timeless quality about them, making it difficult to determine whether they were taken this year, or 50 years ago.

My first trip to Europe was in 1993. I was a beginner, but quickly I figured out the way to really immerse myself in a strange and wonderful new place was to jump right in.

I avoided the McDonald's and looked for places that were different to me. The rewards of trying new things were instantaneous. Warm people and new ways of doing things.

Rome, Florence, Naples, Pompeii and San Gimignano.

My world became so much bigger after only a few days. I would travel to many other cities around the world in years to come, but my first experience in Italy will be fondly remembered.

I returned to Italy in 1999 and visited the northern part of the country. I was based out of Milan and every few days I would tke the tram to the train station and look up at the listing of trains and decide where I wanted to go that day.

Venice, Bologna, Montova, Lake Como...

It was a wonderful way to explore, sampling delicious food and meeting people in each city I visited.

I guess descriptions of New Orleans will probably always be BK and AK or Before Katrina and After Katrina. I visited New Orleans long before Katrina and found it to be an incredible place dripping with something very difficult to explain.

It was a paradox of friendly and forboding. Like you never wanted to run out of bread crumbs, just to be on the safe side.

I'm not sure how much of what I remember is still there, but I hope that the lessons and injustices of Katrina are not soon forgotten.

My first visit to Paris was very brief. I spent a Sunday morning exploring the Right Bank. As I walked, I found myself being drawn to the Eiffel Tower as it began to appear over the tops of trees and buildings.

Paris has always been an inspiring city to me. I first visited Paris in 1994 and have enjoyed many visits since then. Walking the streets is the best way to know Paris, and I find myself surrounded by the good ghosts of so many artists when I'm there.

The street are more familiar now, but sitting down at the café around the corner from my apartment was just as special as the first time.

Pompeii is a beautifully tragic city near Naples in Italy. It was destroyed 2000 years ago when Mount Vesuvius erupted suddenly, burying the entire city and everyone living in it under 50 feet of molten ash. In the 1940s, excavations began to uncover the perfectly preserved city.

I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon there, quietly walking through the streets. It had just rained and the light made for somber and beautiful images.