“See you next week.”

Such mixed feelings today. Extreme happiness in the memories of the past 1o days. Sadness and a bit of eye mistiness as the dwindling group of us help to load the cars and hug out what is the end of an extraordinary experience here.

“See you next week.”

It’s the only thing that to say that minimizes our melancholy as we are extracted from this all too brief cocoon of joyful creativity and community. Goodbye is simply too difficult to say at the moment.

I was invited here as a stranger to join this beautiful collection of humans and will leave as part of a family of wonderful artist friends. You have all been so welcoming and generous with your spirit and inspiration that I know this experience, this first ZoeFest for me, will always be remembered as one of the best moments of my life. Thank you for that.

I created images here I didn’t know I had in me due to the collaboration with some of the most beautiful, intelligent and creative women I have ever met. Sometimes with a bit of a plan, sometimes just seeing what we discovered wherever we were, the resulting images were always beyond what I could have imagined.

As I looked over the shoulders of the photographers editing their images, I was in awe of what we had all discovered, sometimes in the same locations but all unique in their point of view. I have learned much from all of you.

Here is a small sample of the embarrassment of riches I was able to create with the help of my new friends.

Billy