January's Pains
Every month I look back to see what photos I made for the same month a year ago. Sometimes two years back. Sometimes more.
Looking through past January’s always troubles me because it reminds me not only of the snowstorms and overnight freezes. It also reminds me that there are fewer days with photos of people.
People take a break in January. A break from Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the emotional requirements and baggage required by the year’s end holidays. Plus, the cost of Christmas puts budgets in distress making shopping more of a chore than a challenge.
Most of the photos of people I make in January are of them in distress. In a snowstorm or a car crash. Or fishing. I can always count on someone with a fishing pole. Even when it’s not near water, above.
When I’m out on a feature hunt in January I’m looking for people because there are fewer of them. Perhaps they are in a ursid hibernation moment confined to easy chairs and couches with nourishment supplied by Doordash and HelloFresh.
I’m suspicious this phase begins about the same time as the post-season college games and continues until the Super Bowl. Then they begin to reappear just after pitchers report for spring training. When the super Bowl and pitchers dates overlap, the lethargic obeyance continues until the Final Four. However, the Final Four involves participation in a betting pool requiring the personal delivery of betting slips to the local gambling overlord requiring exit from the hibernation confines. This activity is almost always confined to males.
Females spend this same time at tea parties at Asterisk where I suspect there is more than just tea served. This reporter has only been able to watch these affairs from a distance. The female may seem cordial when interrupted during an afternoon tea but body language and voice tone suggests otherwise. I now when I’ve reached my limit.
So, I’ll be watching for whoever decides to brave the cold and the prospects of distress so I can make their photograph. I am in the debt of these people.