(On the question of deserving respect.)

Just now I stumbled upon this mini photo-essay someone wrote about my work with Ashley:

[This was posted in 2009.]

I shouldn't be surprised when these coincidences pile up. And I'm not.
I thought a lot about Ashley last night, for a variety of reasons.

So when I found this blog post I had the sudden desire to spend a few minutes looking through my archives.

Mostly because I had the sensation that my work was better in the past,
and what better way to deal with that truth/self-deprecating lie than go through the images that were never shared?

(They say that if you want to discriminate talent between photographers, look at their contact sheets, not their prints.
This is how I judge my own work. It's quite helpful.)

I quickly tired of flipping through images (after one roll).
Instead I opted to search for self-portraits taken in 2009 that maybe were never posted or haven't inundated the internet.

It was a much healthier solution. Though I'm still left with that feeling. Which is also a healthy feeling.