Face Value: Mirror Portraits

How do you know when something is complete? 
This portrait project took me across the country where I photographed 500 people in a couple years time. It was incredibly fulfilling but also completely draining. Some days I couldn’t talk let alone move after the sessions. 
I started “Face Value: Mirror Portraits” around 2010 and shut it down around the time my dad died and my daughter was born. I had done so much of the work, met so many people, and gotten so much press but just didn’t have the mental or spiritual capacity to “finish it”. 
I wanted to do an interactive exhibit, publish a book, do a TED talk, take this thing on the road!, but I ran out of steam and was reshuffling my life’s priorities.
Looking back now over a decade later I can remember so many details about the project and how it had generated its own momentum. I remember how so many participants felt transformed by their time in front of the mirror. Mostly in small whimsical ways but occasionally they left profoundly impacted. I received letters and gifts of gratitude along with the rare note that I didn’t adequately prepare them for the experience. It can be a lot to handle; staring at yourself in such a vulnerable way while being prompted to dig deep into yourself. The participants usually only did it once but I had to do it over and over and over. 
I’m still not sure if the project is complete. Should I publish something? Should I reach out to everyone and do a poll? Should I just leave it and enjoy the memories? I don’t have any answers right now but hey if you participated and want to see that version of yourself let me know.

This is a photo of me in NYC at the Tommy Hilfiger offices. I walked up and down Manhattan with all my gear going from shoot to shoot like a maniac! Nobody told me cabs were cheaper than chiropractors.