near:far

(James at 9 months old. Thinking back to those baby days.)

I have been pretty frank about sharing my history of postpartum depression here. With a new baby on the way, my thoughts have turned back to that time, and to taking steps to prevent it. One of the things that I did to successfully combat the depression was to use photography to draw myself back into my daily life, from which I had become so distant. And then, of course, sharing a bit of that here, in this space, with all of you. Your support, enthusiasm, and the many new friendships I gained, all became such a surprising and lovely part of my healing process.

As so many of you have discovered, one of the best things about this blogging thing are the connections to be made with people from all over the world. One of the women that I connected with very soon after beginning this blog was Kyrie. Kyrie and I share a lot in common -- including our history of postpartum depression. Both of us found photography to be therapeutic during that time, but in slightly different ways. While I used it to draw me back into my life, she used it to help herself take a step back when she was feeling bogged down.

So, I'm very happy to announce that today, Kyrie and I are launching a new collaborative project, near:far. It's a place for us to share some photography and some thoughts as we both stand on the threshold of new motherhood once again. We'll be posting our photos and thoughts every Tuesday and Friday for 52 weeks. The focus is not on depression, but rather on positivity. We hope you'll join us there, share your stories, and hopefully help us to create a community of beauty and support.

I am so excited to be sharing this project with all of you. Afterall, without having had to work through postpartum depression, I wouldn't be taking pictures, or blogging, or have met most of you! So please stop by and pay us a visit!