Bob Foss was kind enough to share some words about our friend Lynn Rockwell. She will be missed greatly. Below is what Bob wrote yesterday, February 4th, 2007.
A smile and a camera.
This is how I want to remember Lynn Rockwell, who lost her battle with lung cancer on Saturday morning. Even while suffering nearly unbearable pain, Lynn returned to Peggy's Cove – one of her favorite places for making photographs – early last week. She posted her last photograph to her blog Focus on Photography on January 28.
Lynn was a special person to me, as she was one of the first regular visitors to Forgingahead and over time we came to be close. We shared compliments, we shared suggestions of how to improve our photographs, we shared special sites we found, and ... yes, we even shared occasional gossip.
Today I spoke with Diane Varner, one of Lynn's dearest friends in the photoblog world, and we remembered how much Lynn had meant to us. Later, I followed various links from Lynn's sites and read many tributes others have written. I discovered that her personal influence extended to all corners of the world.
Many of you did not know Lynn. But many of you did. She has been an active participant in discussions at Photoblogs.org, was an original member of WeeklyShot, took part in the weekly photo critiques in the Photoblog Critique group, participated in the growth of Requestock, and was a strong support person for folks using PixelPost. I know these only scratch the surface of the contributions Lynn made to the photoblogging world.
Lynn's passing has brought home for me the power and reality of the photoblog community. Sometimes we speak about community in vague terms. Sometimes we think the connections we make online are less real than those we have with the people around us. I cannot help but feel, as Diane suggested to me earlier today, that just as a "real" community loses something when one of its members dies, so too did the photoblogging world lose a bit of its energy on Saturday.
We will all miss you Lynn.
