ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Several years of more and less tangible work go into writing a book, and many people played significant roles in this book’s creation; I offer my sincere gratitude to them here. To my father James Michael Faris and to my mother Charlene Brown Faris, who taught me by example the importance of discipline and hard work, and who nurtured my dreams unconditionally. For your years of belief and encouragement and for sharing the gift of your lives with me, I acknowledge family, Jim Faris, Mary Stine, and Ahndrea Pett; the few I call friends, in particular Rachel Paul, Michél LeRoy, Greg Marion, and Shawn Curtis (for your wonderful illustrations); and professors Sean Wilkinson and Roger Crum from the University of Dayton, and Marianetta Porter, Joseph Grigely, and Peggy Kusnerz from the University of Michigan. To Randy Wolf, my dear friend (from our first conversation about cats and dogs), for reminding me to live in the moment. Heartfelt thanks to three wonderful spirits—Nancy Jowske, Kim Coughnour, and Anne Camm—for your wisdom, faith, and guidance while I located my true north. Special thanks to my gracious friend and colleague Dennie Eagleson for your immense well of support, for being a finely tuned critical sounding board, and providing much needed content editing even into some mid-night hours. To Jon Lybrook, plate maker extraordinaire, for your dedication to solving the photography world’s polymer photogravure problems. Thank you also to Joan Teemer and Tom Finke for making possible the publication of Jack Teemer’s work in this book; in so doing you have allowed me to tangibly acknowledge his positive influence for so many students through his excellent teaching. Thank you to Dean Keesey for providing your mother Masumi Hayashi’s images during a tremendously difficult time. Most humble thanks to all of the photographer-artists and photographic contributors to this book; your amazing works illustrate photography’s depth and power more than my words ever could. Thanks to Frank Varney and to my students and colleagues at the Art Institute of Colorado for your patience while I diverted much time and energy to this project. Thank you also to two fantastic women, Valerie Geary and Diane Heppner, and all involved at Focal Press for your dedication to quality photography publications and patient assistance in the difficult task of preparing them.

Most importantly, infinite love and gratitude to my husband, Dave Belt, the perfect partner in this life’s physical, spiritual, and intellectual journey, for your boundless support and encouragement, for sharing with me the depth of your wisdom and being, and for your eagerness to explore, understand, and embrace with me the Universe from which we came and to which we will finally return.