The past, present, and future are always with us and are inhabited by the spirits of who we once were, who we are now, and who we will be. My previous series, "In the Mind's Eye," was a story line with a happy ending. Not so in this dark tale.

In addition to the main images in this series, please note the images in the picture frames on the walls. They are important in establishing continuity and/or foreshadowing. For example, the image of a horse from a medieval tapestry in a frame in "Inner Darkness: Remorse" leads to the same image out of the frame in a waking nightmare in "Inner Darkness: Portent." Also note the quotes from T. S. Eliot's "East Coker" at the bottom. I believe they complement the story line.

This image titled as "Beginning to End,"as it was called in the magazine, is the recipient of a Spotlight Award in BLACK AND WHITE MAGAZINE, Issue 150, January 2022, p. 34. It is also one of two images selected from this series to hang in the FotoNostrum Gallery in Barcelona, Spain, in an exhibit entitled Melancholia. It was also juried into the Durham Art Guild's 67th Annual Juried Show, Durham, NC, October 1-November 30, 2021. The link to that show's gallery is https://sites.google.com/durhamartguild.org/67thannualjuriedexhibition/exhibit-artwork. In the Durham Art Guild's show it is titled, "The Three Faces of Eve." This image was also a Nominee for an Award in the Amateur Fine Art Category of the 16th Annual Black & White Spider Awards. It was juried into the Second Annual Online Digital Show of Cary Photographic Artists. The link is: https://www.caryphotographicartists.org/cpa-2nd-annual-digital-2022?itemId=q7rzhxbl9sccidg5ntma9jwif4l6mn

Some think that ghosts occupy graveyards but in fact they live in our minds and there is no way to anchor them to any place other than where we are. Although we may invoke them, we don't really call them up because they are already with us.

In all our lives there are regrets about mistakes and missed opportunities. Sometimes, however, the abandonment of childhood and its consignment to spectral holdovers goes beyond regrets to remorse.

The fable is that woodland fairies and elves would sometimes steal a human child to raise as their own. They would leave behind a "changeling," a hollow and evil being. If who we once were is abandoned to ghosts, we are changed and hollowed out in the process.

The horse with the severed forelimb that was in a picture on the wall two images ago has now emerged as a mutilated specter in a living nightmare. It is a portent of what is to come.

The nightmare has been converted into reality. In our practices, we have often heard that the pain of cutting relieves the pain of inner suffering. Perhaps it will also relieve the torment of being haunted.

Of course, ghosts are never really driven out because they are part of us. All that is left after the pain is despair. This image, like the first image in this series has been selected to hang in the FotoNostrum Gallery in Barcelona, Spain, in an exhibit entitled Melancholia.

The final image is ambiguous. Whether in this world or another, perhaps the only solution is reunion with one's ghosts.

This is a revision of my Remorse image. It is a stand alone version and has been changed so that it could be shown out of the context of the Inner Darkness series.

This is the second version of the last image in my Inner Darkness series. I artificially aged the face of my model using some of the new AI software. Overall, I find this version more to the point than the original but will keep both.

This is a further revision of the face in the left hand frame in this image. That face has kept the mask but has been aged severely.