A year ago today…
“A year ago today…”
The time I saw the Flyers play in Miami
It’s a phrase you’ve probably heard 15 times today alone. A year ago today was when our world as we knew it officially shut down. The last concerts, pro sporting events, in-person work days, and so on all took place on March 11th, and March 12th was the beginning of “quarantine”. Today is what New Year’s Day would be if it was a functional holiday. It’s a rare incidence where there is a clear cut era of 365 days that we can all look back on.
An apocalyptically empty freshman quadrangle at Penn
A year ago today, my Plan A was to be in Tampa, FL - somewhere I’ve actually still never been - with my family watching the Philadelphia Flyers play the Tampa Bay Lightning. The plan was to see some extended family, and then go to the game, which would have been quite a trip, especially since the Flyers had just won 9 in a row and were the hottest team in the NHL. I was then going to shoot over to Miami for 3-4 days to celebrate a birthday with the girl I was seeing at the time. 22 years old and just rolling with it.
However, my family and I decided a few weeks prior to call the trip off because we had been seeing all the coronavirus headlines. My grandfather was just about to undergo chemotherapy, and I remember saying to my dad - “Is this something we should be considering? Is it possible that three weeks from now this coronavirus thing could actually be an issue?” So we canceled it, erring on the side of caution, thinking maybe we were being a little paranoid. That was Plan A.
Freshman essentials
March 12th Plan B wasn’t nearly as exciting, but that’s not because it wasn’t a plan worth making, that’s just cause Plan A was storybook good. Post-canceling the trip but pre-shutdown, I was approached by a publicist I used to work with at Atlantic Records to do portrait photography and an interview of their rising country star Ingrid Andress (really great artist by the way, go check her out) who was opening up for Dan + Shay that night at Wells Fargo Center - the arena where the Flyers play. I was gonna do the portraits, watch her set, and then go out for a night in the city with some friends.
Driving up the turnpike home, with a car full of things
My sister Kristina goes to University of Pennsylvania, and at the time was home on spring break. As the date approached, we saw the writing on the wall. We figured there was no way her classes were going to continue in-person for the rest of the semester, so Plan B turned into Plan C which was go to Philly, get Kristina’s things out of her dorm, do the shoot and interview, and drive straight home. There was no way I was going to deal with a Wells Fargo Center full of people, even though in the weeks leading up to it I had been to 4 or 5 Flyers games there.
So a year ago today, I woke up to put Plan C into action. At this point I couldn’t believe the concert was still happening, but I never bail on a shoot. If I say I’m going to do it, I will do it. So I emailed the publicist around 9 AM because I had seen some of the Flyers beat writers saying the concert was canceled because members of the 76ers and Pistons had tested positive for Covid just the night before in that very building. He checked with the tour manager, and sure enough, the show was off. That’s when Plan C became Plan D. Load up on disinfectant wipes and rubber gloves, get everything out of Kristina’s dorm room, and then not leave the house for an indefinite period of time. Philadelphia was pure apocalypse that day, and that was hardly the beginning.
I could go on at length about what 2020 had in store for me. Finally some tour photographer gigs on the horizon, and likely a permanent move to LA. I think we all have similar sentiments -“before the shutdowns I was going to…” In a weird way though, the past year has been a tremendous year of growth for a lot of us. It’s just kinda crazy. A year ago today was March 12th, 2020. A March 12th unlike any we’ve ever seen before, and hopefully one we never see again.