Coral Wilson In the last three years...

Coral Wilson

In the last three years of the 1980s, Glen Allison made a million

dollars as one of the leading architectural photographers in the

world. But when the real estate market crashed in the early ‘90s, so

did his fortune. He lived in his van for nine months until his

bankruptcy went through, and then he lost the van, too.

And he had to decide, as all people do, would life’s obstacles

fuel him or drain him? For Allison, it was a catalyst to go after his

dream of becoming a travel photographer.

It is about a fortune, love and dreams that were won and lost, and

a travel photographer who roams the world trying to win it all back.

It is about Gary Matheson, protagonist of the new book “The Journey

from Kamakura.”

Allison’s new novel, along with his new book of short stories

“Penis Gourds and Moscow Muggings,” are the results of an eight-year

journey to 131 countries and territories and the fulfillment of a

dream that began in his mid-40s when Allison gave away his negatives,

destroyed all business contacts and set off for Europe “desperate but

determined,” with the change in his pocket.

The theme of his novel is that of his life: “To never give up on

one’s dreams until you make them come true.”

Allison was willing to do anything, even deliver pizza.

“I could’ve been the most miserable pizza boy after having just

made a million dollars and lost it, but I determined for however long

I had to deliver, I would be the best pizza delivery guy they had

ever had at age 45,” he said.

Allison measures his success by photographs, not dollars.

“At the end of my architectural career, I had 5,000 pictures

published in the most prestigious architectural magazines in the

world. But in the last decade, my pictures have been published 50,000

times.”

With 50,000 prints floating around, he “bumps into them” on

postcard racks, on airplanes and even on the cover of Time magazine.

In the novel, Matheson’s search for self and the meaning of life

ends in a kind of epiphany, but Allison’s personal revelation about

his role in the world was a process.

“The only way to contribute to peace in the world as an individual

is to celebrate cultural differences and respect those differences

and in some way make a tremendous life bond with as many people with

differing views, because if we do that there would be peace in the

world,” Allison said. “You can’t go to battle with people who are

your friends.”

But the world is not at peace, and Allison said Americans are as

much to blame as anyone else.

“In our country, we tend to think we are a global melting pot, but

actually we are very insular. Most Americans have no idea about the

geography of the world. So many people asked me, ‘Where is

Kamakura?’”

Peace spreads slowly, one person at a time, through understanding

and dialogue, Allison said. As one person doing his part, Allison

resolved long ago to make one lifelong bond with someone from every

country in the world.

He got mugged in Moscow, was trapped by avalanches in Tibet,

almost slipped into a volcano in the South Pacific and was kidnapped

by a warlord in Irian Jaya, in Papua New Guinea.

“I was just a photographer roaming the world, taking beautiful

pictures, and in doing that, I encountered life.” Allison said. “And

most people in different cultures lived it differently than me, and I

had an opportunity to either be narrow minded and think my way of

doing it was better, but for mere survival I more or less had to open

my mind and entertain the possibility that there was another way of

doing it that might be better.”