Christmas in the Big Apple

"I am writing to ask you a special favor. Would you like to be a photographer in an Indian newspaper? Now is the chance, but you must act quickly. It is 5 PM where I am, and by noon tomorrow I need a photo or two emailed to me showing a Christmas scene in the states. Please snap a photo on your camera/phone/whatever and email it to me sometime on your Sunday before you sleep, and by Tuesday in India your photo may be in the paper along with my story about Christmas".

That is an excerpt from an email that appeared in my inbox on December 23, 2012. I immediately sprang into action. Before you shake your head thinking I have become extremely gullible as I continue to battle Lyme disease, I would like to mention that this email was sent to me by my sister.  Dee Dee was in India working as an editor/reporter for a three month internship at the New Indian Express in Chennai and had been assigned to write about Christmas in the United States. My family doesn’t celebrate Christmas but that did not stop her from writing her story, nor did it stop me from riding around DC and taking photos of Christmas decorations, per her request. 

I had gotten so wiped out by my trip to the burbs of NYC for Thanksgiving to visit my parents, they decided to come down to DC for the holidays so I could rest and not add to my cloud of exhaustion with holiday travel. Mid-afternoon on the day after they arrived I insisted on taking them on a walking tour of my neighborhood even though my mom kept asking me if it was a good idea for me to be outside walking. It turned into a two hour plus walk in the crisp cool air. By the time we made it back to my condo I was limping and in need of a major nap. Four plus hours later my mom woke me up with a reminder that I needed to take my antibiotics and eat dinner. For the rest of the night I was groggy and complaining about my leg and back pain. The next day we were lounging around and enjoying each other’s company when the assignment from India rolled in. While I sat in the passenger seat of my car taking photos, my mother sat in the back battling motion sickness while claiming my dad was driving like an animal. Deep down I think she enjoyed our wonderful driving tour around town which enabled me to capture the holiday spirit in a series of photographs that I sent off to my sister. Dee Dee loved the photos and wrote me back telling me that she was using the one of the Capitol in her article and I was going to get photo credit. 

As the story goes, when my sister left work on Christmas Eve, they were still laying out the December 25, 2012 edition of the New Indian Express. On the front page of the Chennai "City Express" section her article along with my photo was above the fold. The next day when she saw the paper a different Christmas story had been published accompanied by my photo; without photo credit. The caption (pictured in blue) below my photo is language they pulled from my sister's article about Christmas that was not published. It reads: BIG APPLE IS ICONIC SYMBOL OF X'MAS - In the United States, New York City has become the iconic symbol of Christmas. Thousands of people visit Manhattan daily from November through early January, hoping to catch glimpses of the ornately decorated Christmas windows on 5th Avenue". 

My photo of the Capitol labeled as New York City provided me a much needed laugh as 2012 was coming to an end. So there you have it; I am now an uncredited published photographer in India! If you would like my autograph, it can be arranged.