Northport, Alabama

I could not find the words to write last night, and truthfully, I still find myself rather blank this morning. Writing is like that for me sometimes. But as I was writing a comment on another site, it occurred to me that perhaps this would a good place to put it as well. Many, many thanks to writer/photographer Noah Grey for inviting his readers to share the things for which they are grateful. This is the comment that I posted to his site in its entirity…

“How wonderful to have the opportunity to write something happy. I have been so mired in darkness lately… So let’s see…

To have truly known unconditional love, even though the loss was almost unbearable. To have been taught what it means to live fully and completely. To share my life with someone who not only loves me, but puts up with my up-down-sad-happy-cry-scream craziness every day. To have seven wonderful kitties who make me laugh, drive me insane, and comfort me constantly. To live in the apartment of my dreams and be on my third year of making it (YES, I think I can finally say that!), MAKING IT, as a freelance photographer. To be very, very close to having the money to buy the studio lights I have wanted and needed. To have a really good friend who is willing to walk through the darkness with me, even when it is scary as hell. To be finished with a big project that was weighing on my mind. To have a kick-ass Powerbook with a kick-ass operating system (Tiger, ROCKS!) and to know that life just keeps getting better as a Mac user. To have a website that pushes me to get out of bed everyday and shoot SOMETHING, even when I don’t feel like it. To have rediscovered my love for writing at a time when I thought I would never write again. To be back on the losing end of the scale. To have taken more than my share of beautiful photographs, even when the crappy ones are all I can see. To have a constant stream of movies to look forward to thanks to a new subscription to NetFlix. To have cable internet with all of the speed and convenience, entertainment and inspiration, that it provides. To have discovered an entire community of photographers whose work pushes me to crawl out of bed and try something new. To have rediscovered your website [Noah Grey’s], because your words touch me just as much as they ever did, especially right now when I am going through my own dark tunnel.”

Incidentally, I should also mention that this recent shot was inspired by Noah’s high key work, especially this shot and this one. Also, yesterday’s shot was totally and completely ripped off from inspired by Dave Anastasi’s wonderful alcohol series, especially this shot and this one . And I’m grateful to both of them for their influence.

Music of the day: Trouble Sleeping by the Perishers (lyrics)