Image by Bill Vaccaro

I think it was slightly ironic that when I finally got around to watching Bill Maher’s Religulous (which is much better than I expected), I got the e-mail from Center that I did not win the Santa Fe Prize for Excellence in Photography. I don’t doubt myself on a regular basis, but I did doubt that I would ever win something of that magnitude. I’m not photographing war or death or poverty. I’m just pulling rabbits out of my imagination. And unfortunately, my work has historical references, which lately doesn’t seem to be a good thing. A whole bunch of other fantastic photographer friends heard the same news, so I was in good company. The funny thing is, that even though we sort of knew, sort of doubted our chances, at the same time, we had a glimmer of hope. And isn’t that the case with all things in life. And wasn’t it nice to be nominated (I mean that).

Whoever is the chosen photographer, I wish them well and am happy that their hope became a reality.