Merry Christmas from 20 years ago today. On this day I awoke a stranger to myself, alone in my apartment in Sandymount on the south-side of Dublin and I had a plan. My Christmas present to myself was that I was going to walk and photograph, I was going to enjoy a pure self imposed solitude on this day where we typically go to family and friends to celebrate each other. In the months prior my life had taken on a new trajectory… on this day I was planning on photographing, on not thinking about anything else. To see where my feet took me. I walked. I shot. I took in a very quiet capital city. I recorded this image, which remains one of my finest photographic achievements. This past week some 20 years later I was thinking about this image celebrating its 20th anniversary, what the image means to me, thinking about where the time goes…
The photo captures two strangers, to me, carrying—presumably— packages to or from a Christmas gathering. It captures endless time and light. It has an eternal quality of grace provided mostly by the majestic architecture of Christ Church Cathedral. But when I think of it, I guess, it has always meant to me that there is hope out there for those of us in distress. There will be people taking to the streets to bring their presents and presence, there is beauty out there if you look for it. Light will shine to be captured even in the darkest hours.
Merry Christmas from the past and the beautifully unknown future…
