Seeing The Future

I mounted and spotted 4 small prints today, prints I might show at some club meetings. The photos are 4x5 shots made in Thailand in September as part of the "Common Lives" project.

Seeing these 4 pictures side by side I can see in my minds eye the future of this project. It will include hundreds of portraits, possibly even a thousand or more. I feel the importance of this, the creation of this body of work is the most important thing I can do, it must be done.

I need to work harder on my physical conditioning so that I can stay in good shape to make pictures longer, I am 47 if I can improve my conditioning and if I am lucky with my health there is no reason I cannot continue to make portraits with large format equipment until at least 70 years old.

Seeing those 4 prints today made me feel better, I feel less depressed over the lost negatives, I feel I can do this project now. In the past it was always at the theoretical stage but now I have the prints mounted in my basement and another in the art archives of the province, it is happening, its not theory any more, it's a reality. I need to push myself for as long as I can and get these portraits made. Getting everything on film has to be my first concern, all the other stuff, the prints, the collections the shows is secondary at this point.

With this work I can create something important and lasting, I can make photographs that show our common shared humanity, the work will also be a record and a tribute to those photographed.

TIME TO MAKE PICTURES!