I received notice that one of my photographs has a prominent place in a prime gallery space.  I couldn’t be happier, though I’m not sure of the name of it.  Whirlpool?  Frigidaire?  It doesn’t matter; the important thing is that my photograph of her late husband remains on her refrigerator door.

We had coffee the other day, talking about her upcoming book and life in general.  Her husband was one of the people that I had the honor to interview and photograph for a book project a couple of years ago titled “50: Years, Faces, Stories.”  She had told me that the photograph is on her refrigerator and during our coffee conversation, I told her how special it was that my image was there.  Gallery walls are for artistic expression; refrigerators are reserved for matters of the heart.

That has me thinking about the things created for us or by us.  Where do we want creative works to appear?  Magazines, galleries, museums?  Living rooms, hallways, stairway walls?  Refrigerators, wallets, journals?  I guess it depends on whether we seek audiences or connections.

Maybe someday my images will be in private collections or museum holdings.  That would be nice.  For now, I know my work appears on a refrigerator, reminding a woman every day of the man she loved for decades.  And that makes me happy.