It's been a thing, you guys.

In my email account, I have a folder reserved for emails relating to 200 Portraits. Specifically the ones that actually came with photos (questions and responses to the update emails remain in the inbox). So far there is about 120. I've recieved photos in other places so soon I'll need to really count them up and figure out how many I have and if I should stop asking for submissions.
My best friend Bekki recently offered to be my assistant. So far the main thing she has had to do is gather email addresses to add to a list...Partly so if I decide I want to send an update to everyone who has sent a photo, I don't need to go too far to find their addresses and partly just because it's good to have a list of everyone who is involved. After I gave her full access to my (personal, might I add. This is how lazy I am. All your emails regarding the project go to my personal email address even though I have one specifically for 200 Portraits that I don't use) email account, she sorted through all of them and put them into the correct folder.
My hero.
I asked her if she'd read any of the emails that had come with the photos and she said no. I am grateful that she was thoughtful enough to not just read my stuff, but I kind of wish she had. Some of the stories that have been sent with the photos have really been something.
I've had emails from people who are sick and in hospital, parents who are worried about their children, people who believe that they aren't beautiful and want to see what I can do with their pictures.
People who didn't say anything about their pictures even though they looked like they had really interesting stories. That was nice as well. It's nice that there are interesting people with interesting pictures and interesting stories who don't feel the need to explain themselves. Because maybe what I am looking at and thinking 'wow. That's so strange/cool/funny!' about isn't really anything to them.
People in crazy costumes. A horse.
It's been really interesting so far and I look forward to seeing what else appears in my inbox.
The response to the cards I've been sending out to people who donate has been positive. That is very pleasing because it's not the easiest aspect of this. I am trying to complete a lot of suitable portraits of absolute strangers and the cards are really only another thing on the list. But knowing people are getting them and enjoying them makes it 10 times easier to pick up a pencil again and again and again for things that won't even be a part of the one large goal towards which I am trying to head.

Anyway, here is an interview that a friend of mine posted on her blog. Also it's a good blog, so maybe you should become a reader of it too.
http://monstergirlwrites.blogspot.com/2010/06/interviewing-audrey-bishop-of-200.html

http://200portraits.info

A.