Gretchen was a dear friend. A friend who recently lost her monumental battle with cancer. When the battle seemed winnable, not just noble, we made a series of photographs to document her journey. The pictures were based on some iconic images with a pink substitute for a central element in the original. I am pleased with several of these. I take greater pride in the relationship that developed around them. Gretchen invited me to be part of her odyssey. She showed great confidence in my abilities to capture her mood, status of her health, and persona. More importantly, she fully trusted me to become part of her emotional world during a very difficult and challenging time in her life The work we did together, not just the photographs, cemented a deep friendship that continued to grow. The project exhibited the value of collaboration and the importance of a muse. Happenstance has yielded some historic photographs of important moments. But planning, organization, practice, and some homework are the best ways to get consistent results. My favorite photograph from the series has a pink fascinator in place of Billie Hoilday’s gardenia corsage.

As Richard Thompson would say “she ran out of road, she ran out of breath”. She, however, did not run out of family and friends that were drawn to be with her or the joy their presence brought. She did not run out of strength or courage. She did not run out of appreciation for my sarcasm. And she did not run out of dignity.