The cold open

And then, just as suddenly, signs that the holidays are drawing to a close are everywhere. College football is on night after night, tickets for potentially lame New Year's Eve celebrations are at the ready, garbage men grimly face hauling away the packaging from the billions of presents we got each other (that we didn't need), and most Americans have already begun to frown at the idea of returning to work next week (with a terrific hangover) to start another year... all except for freelance editorial photographers.

While the hangovers may be aplenty for us merry few (thousands), the calendar year usually begins with the deafening sound of phones not ringing. Sigh, its true; January is the loneliest month of year in magazine publishing.

My official freelance career began in a January, and that was a most decidedly, and completely empty month to be sure. But every year since, and even while I've been lucky and proud to add new clients and photograph more days in each subsequent year, January still sticks out as by far the safest year to get lost in some foreign country and not worrying about missing any calls.

This is not superstition talking, though I occasionally do come to believe in, and pray to, the freelance photography gods. What experience has taught me is that the reason why my phone doesn't ring in the beginning of the year is that there is no one on the other end to dial the number. Moreover, if I am working in January, its because I was already assigned that job a month ago, which is because magazine picture editors don't seem to do much work in January. Like none. The ones unlucky enough to be in the office are otherwise occupied and busy furiously filling out contest entries for their dozens of contributors. Sometime in early February they seem to all return to pick up the phones and frenzied pace they left stacked high on their desk before the holidays.

There are other hot and cold months depending on who you talk to and where you live. I've had some really abysmal July's, for instance. Also, in terms of Florida photography, January is probably the best time of the year for many commercial shooters who do the bulk of their catalog shooting on the empty (but still warm) beaches during high season down in Miami Beach. Fashion and product makes me want to gag, so I'll be spending my January finishing the move, trying to breathe some luck into a couple of contest entries, and gearing up some energy for a great 2007!

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