Parking lots look less full now as I take my morning walk. There are less footprints in the sand, smoothed by the near gale Northeast wind. The wind is making the wires sing and the railings hum in unison. All signals of the much-anticipated Cape May offseason short winter nap.
If Cape May, as officials say, has a ten month season, then January and February are the only official off-season months. The time when many of us re-charge our batteries and regroup for the coming year.
Where did 2016 go?
Sounds like a cliché but 2016 flew by. It started with preparation for my first public photography exhibit at the Mad Batter. Tutoring from the brilliant photographer Jackie Kane on Lightroom and other editing programs really stepped up my game for the show. Press exposure for both my exhibit and the Mad Batter restaurant did not hurt either. It was a successful event.
Trains Planes and Automobiles
When one of your favorite nieces plans her wedding in Jacksonville Florida at the near height of the tourism season what do you do? You board a train, fly a plane and rent a car after you land in Florida. You don’t expect to do a newspaper interview while eating breakfast in St. Augustine, or do you? Of course you do!
A Face For Radio
Before the embers of the 4th of July fireworks had cooled, a group of us began heating up the airwaves. The Locals of Cape May launched a talk radio program. Every two weeks we sit down with a person of interest and discuss hot topics in Cape May. Tourism, Politics, events are all on the table. By popular demand we put the station online with sound cloud and eventually Itunes. Mayor Michael Clark, Ed McDonough and Deputy Mayor Shaine Meier and I became radio personalities. Remember that work, personalities.
Above the Fold and Below It
Look at that! An expression that also became a cliché this year. Photographs I shot landed on the front page of the Star and Wave so many times I stopped posting and boasting. One photograph I took this summer landed on a much bigger (though no less important) paper. The Wall Street Journal published one of my photographs from Cape May in an article about nostalgic vacations. The photo did not make the print edition but did appear online for the bazillion followers of the Wall Street Journal in social media.
A Personality?
A personality? I’ve been called worse. 2016 sped by like a fast-moving train, complete with blinking lights and bells and whistles. For me it moved faster than the sand across the dry beach during a nor’easter. Between the thrill of picking up some new social media management accounts and advertisers for the blog, 2016 was a good year. Too many good things to call one a pinnacle. Starting out 2017 on the front page of the Press of Atlantic City is one helluva way to end 2016. Among a list of shakers and movers of community minded servants will be a tall order to live up to. I am grateful the Press thought I belonged there.
Fabulous read John, as only you can write!! Very difficult to summarize so many great things concisely. I always enjoy reading your informative and amusing take on any subject.
Also, thank you for your acknowledgement of my “tutoring,” it was a pleasure to be involved in the preparation and excitement of your First Exhibit of which I know there will be many more! And, almost simultaneously, your First Juried Competition in which your Sailboats in the Sunset were an Award Winner! To see you accomplish so much at the “speed of light” is just amazing and I certainly feel lucky and honored to have met you in 2015!
And now, you start 2017, DAY ONE, as one of 17 influential people in South Jersey to watch! Yes, John, you are quite the “Personality!” And that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface. I look forward to seeing what’s next, since for you, it seems, Sky’s the Limit! And you sure do shoot a stellar SKY! 😉 All the best for 2017 and beyond!!