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Miami DJ and producer DJ Khaled in Carol City, FL.

Last night, as I was unpacking my bags and trying to sort out a jammed e-mail inbox, I got a call from my sister asking about the trip and my plans for the upcoming holiday season. "Thanksgiving?" I replied. Shit, man, when did the time for turkey and large family gatherings and Black Friday sneak up on us? Thanksgiving?! What happened to 2006?

It's been a great year, don't get me wrong, but in flipping through my last 2 moleskine notebooks (I know, what a pathetic stereotype fulfilled...) last night I was struck by how many long term items I have left undone heading into the beginning of the end of this year. Each one is capable of producing a little panic attack. New print portfolios for editorial and advertising work. Fuck. New edit for my Redux online portfolio. Ok, well. Breathe life into PhotoShelter archive. Ouch. Finish bringing all business records into Quickbooks. FUCK. Map out new hard drive storage solution. Umm. Plan holiday travel, coordinate between girlfriend and family, figure out gift ideas. Argh. Prepare for contest season and make list of potential entries for World Press, POY, Magenta, etc. Aghh. Find new apartment for girlfriend and I by Jan. 1st. Make the bad man stop!

There is a lot to do. A lot. Some things are obviously major priorities... especially if I don't want to be homeless to begin the new year. Finding a new place to live, getting my books in order, navigating the social and familial politics of holidays... those things are stressful, but to be honest what I'm most reluctant to really sink my teeth into is creating a new set of portfolios. God, how I loathe portfolio time.

I produced my last portfolio about a year ago, which isn't so bad except for that book was a pretty tight edit of newish portraits that I made expressly for Redux, and though clients have mostly liked what they saw, they've also routinely asked to see a bigger and more expansive book which so far doesn't exist. This next book needs to be that big portfolio that somehow manages to showcase several different types of work that I do for clients, and also my personal documentary stuff, all in one package that feels coherent and singular in vision. I'm so reluctant to even start because I remember how hard its been to try and balance documentary, editorial, and portrait work side by side in the last 2 years, and I have no reason to think that it will be easier now. But from experience I know the only way to get there is to get there... and so I'll just begin... with a blank screen and a lot of coffee.

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