COLD
Have I bitched about editors yet, this year/decade/century/millennium? Oh, what the hell? I guess if I didn't bitch, I'd have no journals to write. I don't want to bitch, but sometimes you just aren't left with a choice.

Like, for example, the past three days it has been bitter cold. COLD! I mean on Monday, when I started out to work, it was 7 degrees and the wind chill factor made it about 40 below. Jeez, I spent some time in the Arctic in the '50's when I was in the Navy. It was 40 below without a wind chill factor. In fact, I don't think they had even invented wind chill, yet. But it was cold enough to freeze your nostrils together when you inhaled and you had to force air out your nose to exhale. Cold enough that the 4x5 sheet film we were using back then would split in half. But, I was a young man and this was a great adventure.

Now, I am much older and working on Long Island and I don't expect arctic temperatures. Well, at least I'm not using 4x5 sheet film, so I don't have that to worry about. But, ever since that Arctic adventure and a touch of frostbite in my fingers, my fingers stiffen up and grow so numb that I can't feel the shutter button. And, it hurts. It hurts like Hell. So, I don't particularly enjoy being out in that kind of brutal weather.

The Winter had started out very mild. We certainly had nothing to bitch about as far as Winter weather was concerned. I mean, even I had nothing to bitch about. And the fact that the Winter was so mild, especially compared to what was going on in other parts of the country, made news. So, our staff was constantly bombarded with requests from editors to get weather shots. Y'know, that's not so bad, when the weather is pleasant. But, day after day, week after week, ya just plumb run out of fresh ideas. And during the middle of the day, during the week, there aren't many people out at that time and the kids are in school. So, most of our pictures show the ever present sea gull or Canada Goose on a dock/pond/bay/parking lot. And that gets tired, really fast. Let's not even bring up the subject of relevance. Now, in one fell swoop, Winter is here with a vengence. Well, guess what? The editors think that's news. OK, maybe the first day, comparing this to the more moderate weather we had been experiencing did make a story. But every damned day! Hey! Editors! It's January! It's Winter! We are in the northeast! It's supposed to be friggin cold! Give me a break.

But, nooooo. In spite of an unusually heavy workload, we all have to squeeze in a weather shot for the daily weather story. OK. It's doable if given some time to look for something. But, when you start your shift with four assignments in the first three hours and they're spread out over two counties, and then you get a couple more assignments over the two way, no one wants to start spending a lot of time looking for the ultimate, relevant weather shot. So, the editors get a plethora of of school kids wrapped in layers and lots of scarfs. And when that shot runs, you really can't do the same shot again. But, we do, because it's easy to find and who has time to look for something else. But, the editors who make up the pages want something else, so today they ran a crummy shot of a small iced up creek. Not only did it have no people or relevance, it didn't even have the gulls or geese. Just a creek. I gave them a shot of two commercial fishermen sitting on the dock next to their trawler, mending nets with bare, freezing hands because they couldn't work the twine with gloves on. But, they were bundled up and looked cold and there was a certain relevance to the fact that they couldn't take their boat out onto the frigid ocean because of the cold and the high winds. But, the editors chose the creek shot, and now I'm bitching.

Today, I had a lot of work and again came the pleading cry for a weather shot, over the two way. I told the editor that I was pissed because of the crap that was being used and I didn't want to spin my wheels if I couldn't come up with something better than that.

"Please, Dick. We really need something good. Give it a try."

Damn! I drove up to Northport Harbor. The Harbor was completely iced in. There were a number of commercial fishing boats moored in the harbor, frozen into the still, flat ice. One fisherman was out in his dinghy with an outboard, trying to break through the ice to get to his boat. I don't know if he planned to take the boat out to fish or whether he was just trying to get to the boat to pump her bilges or do some work. He was too far off to ask. But, I put on my 80 to 200mm zoom and got a nice shot. I like it. It's a pretty picture and it has relevence.

If they don't use it tomorrow, I'll be pissed. And I'll bitch. And, I'll swear that I'll never obey another request to get a weather shot.

But, I know that I will. Because that's what newspukes do.

A commercial fisherman struggles through the iced over Northport Harbor to get to his boat as the region is still in the throes of a cold wave. Photo by Dick Kraus ©2000 Newsday

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