Our friend Mary Kellogg, the poet, has what I would call a Mt. Rushmore Face, I could see it carved in granite. Mary has character and grace, and she is, at 88, as imposing and beautiful as ever. I was shocked to see her today,  you would never know she was lying in agony on her kitchen floor a week ago from a bad fall.

Her daughter told me she was in great pain, but she never said so and was shocked that they called ambulance, she was quite prepared to ride to the hospital or call a doctor neighbor for some help. No big thing she said. It was a big thing, but her surgery was successful and Maria is up and walking around, with a little help.

In a blink, she will be home, heading outside to feed her deer. I was happy to take some portraits of her at the Washington County Rehabilitation Center today ( Mary Kellogg, Washington County Rehabilitation Center, NY-40, Argyle, N.Y., 12809.) The camera loves Mary, and I think, on some unconscious level, Mary loves the camera. She has great stature.

Mary has many special meanings for me. The first thing Maria and I ever did together was to edit and publish her first book of poetry, My Place On Earth. I think that was the beginning of our love.

I often write about the Strong Women I photograph, like Kelly Nolan at the bog. They don’t mind having their pictures taken, they look straight into the camera and dare it – and me – to take their pictures.

Mary has never once primped herself up, fixed her hair,  or gotten shy or flustered by the camera. She knows it is what I need to do and accepts me for who I am. I hope I will always do the same for her.

People like to tell older people what to do and  how to live, as if they can preserve them forever. Mary is her own person, in every sense of the word, she has a Georgia O’Keefe face. I love this photograph, it is Mary.