Hurry Up...and Wait!

For most of us here in the States, 2010 started off with a shiver. While the Deep South didn’t get the paralyzing snows and winds that smacked the central Atlantic and northern states, we did get prolonged, debilitating cold. The average daily high temperature in Savannah this time of year hovers in the upper 50’s; our warmest temperature of the last 10 days has been 41 degrees, with most not getting out of the mid-30’s. Friends, that’s cold for us.

Even though we’re in the southern states, we do get our share of sub-freezing temps in the winter. We also get our share of blustery days with biting wind chills. But those days typically number two or three in a season and are short lived, most often lasting no longer than 48 hours or so, and are always associated with passing winter weather systems. This particular frigid weather pattern has been quite unusual. 2010 has also started out as a record breaker.

Of course, this was an opportunity local media couldn’t ignore. On this past Friday, the local weather forecast gave a 30% chance of snow flurries mixed with rain. Most of this was forecast to occur before sunrise, and the overnight low temperature was forecast to be 33 degrees. On Wednesday, the local school board declared that schools would be closed. On Thursday, I received no less than three automated recorded phone calls from local government offices assuring me that “the weather system was being closely monitored, and to please stay tuned to local television and radio for emergency weather updates and other important information.”

In the end, the weather never happened. It was a complete non-event; just a cold sprinkle of rain that lasted perhaps an hour or two. And that warmest temperature mentioned above? It was the overnight temperature from Thursday into Friday.

There can be no argument the weather’s disrupted a lot the past week or two. It’s certainly screwed my shooting schedule. I’ve always worked on the principle that I would never ask a model to do something I wouldn’t do myself. Well, I wouldn’t disrobe in 15 degree wind chills, or model nude inside an abandoned and unheated structure during such cold, and whether anyone would want me to do so is beside the point. So, I’ve rescheduled and reshuffled session dates and times, the first of which is set to take place on Saturday, January 16th, in an empty beach cottage. Unheated, of course.

Today’s image sums up my feelings on the situation. It’s Anna, bored, probably waiting for me to make up my mind on some minor detail.

Hurry up and wait.