Working on a long-term project is an exercise in trust and patience. I sometimes feel I'm taking one step forward and two steps back. But I guess those feelings come with the territory. I'd been forewarned by the Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey who's been mentoring me on what he insists is a book project. If it is, I might be pushing 70 before it gets done! Today was a good example.

I started the day by taking this photo of the bookshelf in my bedroom. Can't even remember how many frames it took before I got this one that I liked. Let's just say LOTS! And then I was off and running. Decided to look in my archives to see if there were any photos that might fit this theme. That was time-consuming but worth it as I found several possibilities. Oh well, I won't bore you with the rest of the day, just trust me when I say this project took more of my time and creative energy than you can imagine.

When I'm trying to create a gallery--even one that is constantly evolving like this one--my task is to find a common thread in the choices and sequencing. It has to fit together, at least to my eye. That means I must leave some of my favorite photos out, at least for now. It also means some photos that had made the last edit now have to be removed if they no longer serve the whole. Talk about a balancing act!

To see where I am with my self portraits/daily life project, CLICK HERE. If you go there, you'll see that the title is ever-evolving too. It's latest incarnation is "Exposing a Life, My Own."