It's a travel week and I'll be on road through this July 4th holiday. St. Anne the Wife is maintaining her role as family superhero while I'm hustling through airports and hoping my footage is exposed and framed well and somewhat in focus.
It's Saturday as I'm writing this and I'm on a three hour layover in Houston before my next flight. Both the airport shuttle driver and the ticket counter agent asked if I was getting paid extra to work over the holiday weekend. I'm assuming it was the stack equipment cases I'm traveling with that suggested I wasn't out for a summer vacation like the rest of the world. Two plus years is a long time to be putting off leisure travel and a lot's changed since I started flying again during the pandemic. Those nearly empty airports and flights back in August 2020 are long gone and it's certainly back to fighting for empty seats and armrests.
I'm flying from a different city on another airline and meeting my producer/director & field audio at our destination. Luckily my 7am flight out of OKC had no issues, but they're delayed and hoping to make their connecting flight. If you've been paying attention, they're not the only ones dealing with yet another Covid related dumpster fire.
Delays and cancellations have plagued air travel, and the Fourth of July weekend may be the biggest test yet for the airline industry, which has faced scrutiny from customers, regulators and investors. - Lauren Hirsch, nytimes.com
Still, as a freelancer who's certainly gone months without work – especially this year – I'm a happy clam to jump on an early flight to a paid gig.
In the meantime, the July-August edition of EdibleOKC just came out and includes a two page spread about my rubber stamp collection. I'd connected with EdibleOKC Editor and Co-Publisher Stuart Husdson via Sam DuRegger (Woodshed Tea & TMRW Coffee). The fine folks at EdibleOKC heard about my stamp hunting and are doing a series on food related collecting. Stuart and I connected for a couple different interviews for the print piece and they sent out a fantastic freelance photographer based in OKC named Charlie Neuenschwander. I'm an awkward person to begin with plus not used to being on the business end of a camera. Crazy thanks to both of them for putting up with me, let alone being interested in my project. I've yet to see an online version of the article, but I'll make sure and include a link if and when it's available. While I'm writing this too, make sure and check out the other work Charlie's website.
