So, some of you have been reading these blogs of mine for a while now. Through thick or thin you've been loyal and I appreciate that. In the early days I was learning how to do this, how to format what I wrote, how to link and fold in the pictures I wanted, the mechanics of writing a blog. I thank you for your patience. And for the patience of John Kramer and Michael Hoy, the two guys that are the designers and structure behind this site and blog. 

But I was also learning what a blog was and what a blog could be for me, my work and my career. Again, I thank you for your support. I am still very committed to the project and believe in its immediacy and, what I hope, is its relevance. 

However, I have now written well over 100 blogs and it would be unconscionable to not reflect on just what this blog is and what it could become. For this is a project with the unique possibility of becoming practically anything. No censor, no editor, no limits. Strange, but where is there truly freedom of expression in more conventional presentation vehicles? Not so much. Fear of a lawsuit or prosecution, I would guess, or an editor that says you can't print that.  So, if you're following along here, where would this thinking lead someone like me, a senior artist/  photographer/teacher?

I thought you'd never ask. This may be my perception based upon being the originator and sole writer of the blog. It is this: as time goes on the blog holds more weight, is more relevant, more timely and may be more significant than the site itself. The blog, designed as a supporter of my career's work, has taken precedence as the primary reason for the site. 

To this end,  I have met with the site's two designers to propose a way for the blog to be front and center but still allow access to the bodies of work contained on the  main page of the current site. Stay tuned for that one this coming fall.

My observations about being a blogger? It has great immediacy but little staying power. This simply means that I don't know that most people go into the back catalog to read past posts. I believe it is about what is up now, then what is up that's new and then what's new again and so on. I feel like a new student to this form of creating, perhaps hindered by my age but advantaged in that I have such a long time into doing what I love: making pictures and, little did I know, writing about making pictures.

You may sense the pace of the blog slowing down a little over the next few weeks. I am in between projects, having finished my residency a few weeks ago in Georgia and am not going to Iceland on another (a Baer Residency) until early July. Coming up is NEPR (New England Portfolio Reviews) next week. I will most likely write about that as I am reviewing again. I am now on Martha's Vineyard, which I have written about before, the dilemma of trying to make pictures that are good in a place that it touristy, pretty and for many transitory.

My friend Steve Dirado, who shoots 8 x 10, has solved that problem by photographing people here. I commend him for his work.

I am flying again early tomorrow morning to shoot more MV aerials and have a couple of very specific locations on the island I want to work on so we will see what I get.