Amy has been away for the last six weeks on her most recent NG assignment in Australia. I have become accustomed to let’s just say – less than tidy living habits. I can't seem to help it. Papers get piled. Clothes, well, they get piled too.
Anyway, she returns, finally, in two days so my ritual begins tomorrow morning. First, any stray glasses will get scrubbed. Clean clothes will get folded, those that are not clean will get washed and amazingly enough will be folded right away. Furniture will get dusted. The vacuum too will get dusted off and put to long over due use.
I know how tough it is being out there on assignment so I really want our home to be welcoming for her return. She does the same for me. That said, I think order is Amy's natural state, where as entropy tends to get the best of me.
We often tell each other being on assignment is not a sprint. It is a test of endurance. The first three weeks out there your eyes are still fresh and the difficult living and travel conditions have not yet gotten to you. Once you pass the three-week mark– twenty-one, sixteen or seventeen hour days, with no break, you get tired. Exhausted actually. Throw in stomach issues, because there are always stomach issues from strange food or worse yet unclean food, and your energy can get really sapped.
The challenge is to keep pushing yourself to be "on". To make a connection with your subjects, talk to them, put them at ease. The more vulnerable and open you are as a photographer the better your pictures will be. Opening up like this is difficult and taxing under the best of circumstances. To do it for almost six weeks takes endurance.
I think maybe I'll pick her some flowers too.
–Matt
© Matt Moyer
