live, love, relive |

January 16, 2008 6:46 AM

While you might think me an ungrateful subject for not getting back to you sooner, the truth is that I was literally overwhelmed with the pictures — starting w/ your blog. True, many are nuances of others, but my self-perception receptors (lol) were totally overloaded. It’s funny how we view ourselves. It’s like hearing a recording of our own voice. Is the recording how our voice really sounds or is the memory of our voice directly to our own ear “reality”? I don’t know the answer. Maybe it’s a little of both. And, yet, if there is anything my years have taught me, it is that beauty truly is only skin deep. And, as a matter of fact, may not even be that deep if marred by a hard heart. So, looks aren’t everything, and, yet, they are. It’s just that we must judge the total picture.

And that is your magic. You have taken the challenges presented (* laugh *) and seen quickly more of a total picture. That, in itself, is remarkable. But, moreover, you have captured and exposed to the very amazement of the subject himself so much of the total picture — so much beyond skin and bones. And, as my pictures demonstrate, even multiple facets of the total picture. You have, in fact, allowed me to glimpse myself in the different lights of life that I occupy. How blessed you are to have this talent and how blessed I am that you have shared it with me.

So, the different J. Burk Voigts that you have presented, some so diametrically different from the others, now need to be assembled and shared with my loved ones — moms, children and present and future grandchildren, to serve as an unexpected legacy from their son, dad and granddad. The right pieces matched together to leave them so much more of a composite picture than the old stained sepia prints that I inherited of my lineage.

To say I appreciate your work seems so inadequate, but I do so appreciate your work.

— J. Burk Voigt