Self Portrait February 2009

Having fun watching the sun going down up on the moun'tn, a friend turned and snapped these of me.

Transcendant Hope of a Sleeping Sun

On my flight back to Arizona from a two week tour of Boston, Washington, D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, and historic Jamestown, I noticed a stream of light shining through the window of the young child sitting in front of me. Looking around, most people were either already asleep or dozing off. I think my gasp of "Woooowwwww" woke up several people, and if that didn't do it, the sound of my Canon Xti's shutter going off repeatedly did.

What I captured is currently used as a part of the banner of a website called Transcendgender. The full image continues to captivate my heart and compels the vivid memory on that plane at 32,000 feet. If ever an image could inspire a sense of hope within me, this was it.

I'll never forget the dazzling colors that are now embedded in my memory. So many that even this image could not contain the full spectrum of the Creator's canvas.

The photo was taken at a time when I faced some of the most painful moments of my life. Live a lie, or face the truth of who I really am? Expose your weakness to those who love you or bury the misery deeper into the gray fog that nearly blinded you?

Embrace the light of love, or fall into endless despair?

And even then, I chose to step forward into the road less traveled. I chose authenticity.

Standing for Equality and Justice

A Closer Look

Self portrait. By Lori D.

Captured