Gratitude.
Each year at some point not too far in front of or behind January 1, I find some time to sift back through the preceding twelve months worth of photographs. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Brought to the front are quite a few feelings that otherwise have fallen through the cracks into the proverbial catch-all drawer in my head. You know the one – the same place where all the unmemorable day-to-day back-and-forth gets filed and ultimately disappears into.
Truth be told, oftentimes the busyness of life and work nudge me just far enough to consider my work just that, and only that. But then, January rolls around. And thank God for January.
January always leaves me struck with gratitude. And not just the kind of gratitude that makes me glad to have such an occupation, but the kind of gratitude that makes me happy to be alive, and to think long and hard about the meaning of that, even beyond the photographs in front of me and the idea of the preservation of important memories.
I’m ultimately reminded around this time of year that I’m a witness to and a participant in some paramountly good times. Times that are nothing if not worthy of being remembered and relived. Times that your kids’ kids will talk about. Times that, when compounded together and looked back upon, make us all – as humans who get some level of satisfaction out of a good story – well up and close our eyes and sit back and grin and feel.
So you, reader, whoever you are – thank you. You’ve unequivocally got my gratitude. I’m certain that you’re here because we've worked alongside each other in some capacity, and I for dang sure wouldn’t be afforded such gratitude if it weren’t for you.
Here are a select few frames from the past twelve months.
