"The story of my recent life. I like that phrase. It makes more sense than the story of my life, because we get so many lives between birth and death. A life to be a child, a life to come of age, a life to wander, to settle, to fall in love, to parent, to test our promise, to realize our mortality- and, in some lucky cases, to do something after that realization." excerpt from “Have a little faith.” ~ by Mitch Albom

I will sadly admit that my own mortality has been at the forefront of my thoughts far too often these pasts couple of years, my friends. A prolonged illness that has turned into more of a marathon event than I could have ever predicted has left me wondering on more than one occasion whether I might wake up dead the next day or not. I suppose the best way I could equate to all of you what has happened over the past while is to simply tell you, I am not myself. Time and its ugliness weigh upon me in dramatic fashion these days and the totality of what has happened in my life could be a real “get you downer” even to the cheeriest of souls. I honestly believe who I am and what I’ve allowed myself to become could keep a host of doctors (particularly the ones ending with “ist” ) employed for life.

So to recap…. Life’s been tough from time to time... but believe me; I’ll get past it…. And that’s about as much as I want to dwell on the question of what’s been happening to me. As my exceptionally beautiful and dear, dear friend Rachel Lovitt says, “Uh, oh… I’d better get over myself”

btw... just so you know... I continue to shoot as often as possible. However, this year due to the aforementioned health issue, most of it was closer to home than usual.

So I say; it's time I resume our regularly scheduled program… and not a moment too soon! . I'll start with this journal entry and add some new photos later on...

My favorite event to attend is the Goodguys show in Columbus, Ohio and this past July's show was, as usual, fantastic. I left on a Friday morning at 4: AM and blasted down the highway in my sleek G8- GT (our first long drive together) with the Sirius\XM tunes blaring and my heart oozing joy all the way there… and that’s the way I remained right up until it started to rain late Saturday morning. Grrrr… a freaking seven hour drive by myself and I end up sitting in a hotel room making crude\rude shadow puppets on the wall and flirting with the room attendant… hey…. she was cute for a grizzled lady in her 60’s. What I got out of the trip was half as many photos as usual and the feeling that life can be distinctly unfair at times… oh, and older married women with patently rough hands can and do have tender feelings.

However, things did get much better upon my arrival home…. An email from some folks in Hollywood asking to purchase the rights to one of my photos had me grinning like a judge in the Miss Nude World Gymnastics competition. While I was flattered to say the least, I cannot say I payed too much attention to the reason behind their request. That is until I forwarded the contract, for proof reading, to my oldest daughter who just happens to be a law clerk for a group of entertainment lawyers (Duncan Morin LLP.) I understood it was Twentieth Century Fox who was buying the shot; however, it was Shannon ([link]) who informed me that the movie the photo was to be used in was a major motion picture starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The movies title is “Wichita" ” [link] and hopefully my photo


will make the final cut and will be up there on the big screen in whatever capacity they've chosen to use it.

Can I get an AMEN!


So there you have it... some good, some bad and the world continues to spin around and around and I haven't fallen off... yet!

Ill be honest and tell you... new stuff will be periodic in nature because my time here will remain limited until January of next year...largely due to work and the holiday season... and most of my images will have the comment ability turned off until then…

I’ll get to the notes and such sometime soon… I promise!

If you’re new as a watcher… THANK YOU! I’m so sorry I have not thanked you personally as is the normal course of polite action here… same for those of you who have my work… please know that I truly appreciate your support.

With that said… I’ll likely wipe the slate clean and start anew in 2010 simply because I cannot fathom a way to thank the 2000+ of you who have added my work to your list(s) of things you like… I type with two fingers and I have to say… they can be as lazy as George Clooney (famous lothario and actor) at an overeater’s [link] nudist resort.

My heartfelt thanks to you all,
Mark