i have been photographing pj whitt since we met, in 2006. she gave me my first instructions on how to use a digital camera. my greatest compliment was the day she said, "the student has surpassed the teacher" *s
pj has been my partner; my teacher; my guide; my companion in the travails of nothingness; my enemy *s; translator of egregious syllables; business cohort; family member; wearer of blue shirts amidst malaise; rock to wind; anchor; earth (and soil *s); she is coparent to my youngest child.
only those few who have been with me through the literal life and death passages pj has traversed at my side will ever come to know what it is to "be close" to a person as strange as am i. only someone as fixed as pj could have remained, for so long, where i could find her.
pj is the most truthful of all models with whom i have ever worked: there is no "filter" between the moods of her face, the kinetic intensity of emotions within her body, and the lens of my camera. for what she has given my work, my life, and my family, i both bemoan and bless her—and i continue to rock with those moanings and blessings she daily brings me *s
~emmanuela
