Worth - part deux

The first person I really talked to on Worth was Burndog.

He helped me out when I started in the Photography department. We became friends. He sent me a couple of books on photography and I sent him a video card for his son.

He used to email me quite regularly, critiqued my photos and send me pictures of his wife and kids, their home and his fabulous garden. Burndog bought a new house, a fixer upper... and has been fixer-uppering since. He doesn't have alot of time for Worth these days but he emails me once every couple of months and this year he called me on Xmas Eve to wish me happy holidays. I remember we became jurors at the same time.

I was very surprised to become a juror. Although I commented on contests, I wasn't very vocal in the forums and thought I was pretty much invisible. For the longest time I wondered who had nominated me.

Before becoming a juror, I really had no idea how much work went on behind the scenes. It was a bit like when you take apart a clock and you expect to find that big black battery cell but what you find instead is amazing multitude of gears, wheels, springs and pins that work in unison to keep everything working smoothly.

I found a group of smart and generous people who freely gave of their time to make sure the place so many of us consider our home on the net stays a great place that we want to continue to come to, people who were passionate about art and community; fun, interesting, witty and talented people. It was like being given a gift when you least expect it... a wonderful and splendid surprise.