Somewhat as a by-product of my filing system and just due to the nature of the season, I spend a good deal of January picking through all the files on my various computers, burning many CDs, collating pages of negative sleeves, and reviewing proof sheets by the dozen.

I have some ideas about what I have learned and where I have improved artistically over the past year — and importantly where I think I may have faltered, and what I can do better. It’s a worthy exercise, to assess what’s come and better understand what can come tomorrow — and an exercise that, at the risk of narcissism, I should really do more than once each year.