Fifth session...this one hit me in a different way than the previous ones. Out of the five people I've photographed so far, I'm closest to this girl. I've lived with her for the past three and a half years and she's seen me at my best and at my worst. I feel as if I've known her for years longer and surprisingly, these pictures showed me something new today, facial expressions I've never quite seen on her before. Where they came from I don't know, but again and again as I build on this work I realize how intimate these photos are, how much they can say to you. A way to communicate what is not always so easy to say in words.

I find that it is so easy to look inward to ourselves and stay there, to become self-obsessed with our own problems. It's easy to fall into our own hole wrapped up in troubles we feel are all our own, easy to convince ourselves that others don't understand, easy to just keep our head down...These photographs connect me to others and remind me to look beyond my own doorstep, to reach out, to ask, to smile...to connect to a family member, a friend, a stranger, someone out there who might think they're alone...someone I might've never noticed if I hadn't looked up.