Well, today (Friday) is the deadline for a special price in submitting multiple entries to the 2007 Black and White Spider Awards. I have just put up a PBase gallery with my ten submissions to this competition. CLICK HERE to see it.

As many of you know I've been trying to choose my submissions for a couple of months now. And I have many of you to thank for taking the time to give me your suggestions. In the end, I followed expressive photographer Phil Douglis' advice and chose photos that best said what I wanted to say. I see each as telling a story, one that will be heard differently by each viewer according to his or her life experiences. That is what I now realize is my goal as a photographer: to be a visual storyteller.

My final decisions were also influenced by the strange timing of an unexpected technical problem. On Wednesday night the external hard drive on which I had stored most of my photos from the past four months, crashed. I've been instructed by Rico of the Wolverine company to send it to him in California, and he'll do his best to save my files, but until then, some of my favorites were impossible to retrieve. I now know to back up my photos in TWO places!

The interesting thing about all of this has been my reaction, or lack thereof. At first I felt pretty spooked, but as soon as I saw that the photos in what I consider my most significant series thus far--Facing Up to My Face at 65--were safe and sound on my computer, I settled down. I also think my brother-in-law's bypass surgery has helped me put things in perspective. I mean, what is really important? My photos? Hardly.

As I worked with the images I still had available, I became quite satisfied with my choices. There's nothing fancy about them but they say what I want to say...and that's enough for me.