I could be completely wrong, but it seems to me that people who are either in the profession of entertaining or saving lives, most often don't spend holidays with friends and/or families. I'm sure there are many professions that fall outside of both realms that are bound to work these days as well, but for the sake of analysis, let's just run with this. Not that stepping outside of your usual social circles is a bad thing, in fact I'm quite the advocate of such things, but I find the conflicting necessities of each "industry" pretty interesting. I certainly would never argue that they are equally important, but you have one side pleasing the masses and the other taking care of a comparatively smaller group. One group exists to fulfill desires, the other to fulfill needs. Entertaining, saving lives, entertaining, saving lives. Not to tangent, but what's really fun is when the two intersect. I mean if this was ER, we'd be watching a holiday montage, cutting back and forth between a surgeon running with a gurney and the happy nuclear family of a secondary character on either Christmas or NYE. Although those of us in entertainment are certainly not running with gurneys and trying to resuscitate people, we still are creating an experience that I still would deem necessary.

By default, of course, when creating a world for someone else, you are creating your own as well. I love working holidays. That's not to say I don't enjoy familiar company, but I really like seeing how other people spend these days. You become a stranger's friend for a few brief hours, a short lapse in time that perhaps they and you will remember all of your life. Will you ever see them again? Probably not, but it's quite perfect that way. You learn just enough, but never too much.


Photo: Rad Electric Violinist at Nikki Midtown on the first morning of 2009 in NYC. I like to call this shot: New Years Eve, Asian with a Violin, Take 2. I think I've just started a new tradition in my 12/31 shoots. See: New Years Eve, Asian with a Violin, Take 1.