Approach by Thomas Prior

Jet Blast by Thomas Prior

Shadow by Thomas Prior

Hi, collectors! For you, today, I have a good story. It starts more than 10 years ago, but you all became a part of it when Jen first introduced you to Thomas Prior and his pictures about 14 months ago. Back then she wrote:

Tom works hard and has kept at the photography thing for a while... A decade's worth of dedication and persistence is evident in his work—it's gotten better and better. It's usually a long rough road out there for artists... For most [including Tom] it's a marathon of portfolio reviews... competitions (Tom was [then] named one of PDN's 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch), group shows and assisting gigs, all while making photos. It's WORK.

With Approach, Jet Blast and Shadow, we mark one more year of Tom's dedication to his craft. These three images come from Maho Beach, one of several small bodies of work that make up a larger personal project about dangerous recreation in beautiful places. The photos are great (of course), but the thing that I'm so excited about is: THIS PROJECT WAS FUNDED BY YOU. All of you who collected Tom's previous editions—Jump, Steps and Post #471—contributed to his ability to take time off of work-work and fly to St. Maarten to photograph the jet-blasted Maho Beach and its sand-stung sunbathers.

In his pursuit of these photographs, Tom's persisted, too, in making pretty much perfect pictures. It's not just the years he's spent shooting (a practice that's diligently documented on his blog), it's all the time and effort he puts into refining and tweaking his images as prints. Every pixel, every color, every line (including the horizon in Shadow—shift it and the whole picture goes awry) is carefully considered. Hours spent adjusting—adding or subtracting two points of yellow or one point of red—to make sure the final photograph is exactly so, are evidence of this: what you're getting is nothing less than Tom's very best. It's really, actually, the most sincere kind of thank you.

The best from Tom begets the best from you, collectors, in your patronage; and from clients and publishers in assignments. His projects are getting good travel—Jet Blast wrapped the cover of Dear Dave, No. 9, Machine Gun Weekend made TIME magazine's LightBox and he spent NYC Fashion Week shooting backstage candids for Vogue.com—all the hard work is paying off.

— Sara