Channing Johnson Photography » A Photographer's Journal

My parents live outside Charlotte. Both their children and grandchildren live in Massachusetts and have never lived in Charlotte. We get to spend a week in Emerald Isle, NC with them, and since my sister and I married Yankees that means the best chance for everyone to spend Christmas morning together is if Mom and Dad come north. What I’m doing here is trying to convince myself that I’m not a bad son for letting more than four years go by since last visiting my parent’s house. Even if we see them two or three times a year it must be nice as a parent to have your children under your roof even if it was never theirs. Worse yet, my reason for being in North Carolina was to attend a workshop. I added on an extra couple of days to go to the NASCAR Hall of Fame with my mom and smoke some ribs with my dad, but I’ve got some catching up to do if I expect to be a contender for Son of the Year.

For 10 years now I’ve lived in relentlessly cold climates. I’ve heard from others about winter hobbies and their importance to get through months of ice and darkness. But I never implemented what I learned from those with snowshoes. Hunkering down and returning to the human race once you remember what grass looks like is easy to let happen. But this year I got winter hobbies, and I have to say the past few months have been pretty easy. I joined a basketball camp (yes, like the one middle schoolers go to but for adults). I also signed up for improv classes. With both these activities I learned there was an extreme lack of play in my life. I’m not just talking about relaxing or hanging out. I’m talking about losing self-awerness to live a little more viscerally.

This isn’t all to say I’m not ready for spring. As soon as it hits 55 degrees I’ll be outside working on my first sunburn. Believe that.

Was this our 4th trip to Providence? I think it was. Each year a few Boston photographers head south to meet up with our Rhode Island brethren in these winter months when our schedules are more manageable (previous trips documented here and here). We always start at the RISD museum, but this year we were there for 30 min. before heading to The Eddy for drinks. I’m all for art, but this trip is about catching up (and feeling all early 20th century with our rail travel). There’s been a revolving cast of participants throughout the years, but I’m glad Stacey is a constant. We don’t get to see her nearly enough, and as soon as I walk out of the train station and see her, I know we’re in for a good time.

Brooke and I met in this car. Sort of. There was a three-month e-mail courtship before she picked me up at the airport and drove me to a job interview two hours away. We’ve filled up the tiny cargo space with presents and spent several Christmas mornings driving between families in this car. When the radio would stop working we sang Disney songs in this car. One of our biggest arguments was in this car. We’ve driven to the beach to eat pizza and lobster rolls and have traveled to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Connecticut and collected some of my favorite memories of the past seven years in this car. Yes, I know, emotionally attaching ourselves to a material possession is frowned upon, but the one constant variable of all these memories is this car, and it just feels a little sad to toss it aside once we’re done with it. Brooke has had the car for the past 11 years. Think of all those memories. She’s having a tough time.

The summer we moved into our house I bought a snow blower to clear the large driveway in the winter months. Well over a year went by before I had an excuse to use it, but the machine came in handy this weekend. If I never use it again I can say it was worth every penny.

You’ve heard me talk about it before. If you want to experience the beauty of summer’s most popular destinations it helps to go in winter. Brooke and I spent a week on Wellfleet Harbor with an incredible view on one side of us and a crackling fireplace on the other. We were lucky to have Brooke’s family join us on New Year’s Eve which was a lot of fun, even if it did make the house eerily quiet once they left. During the week we enjoyed driving around the desolate cape and parking in massive parking lots where we often were the only car. We took (quick) walks along the beach to experience the uninterrupted beauty. My favorite was chasing sunset in Provincetown. Nobody was around, and the wind was so loud you could barely hear the huge waves crashing. We didn’t last long out there, but sometimes it only takes a brief moment to make a big impact.