Connection

Another photo from the Roosevelt University orchestra shoot. During the dress rehearsal, I wandered the edges of the stage and took a number of shots with a medium telephoto lens. To say that this horn player was connected to her instrument would be a statement of the obvious, but for musicians studying at a high level, there is almost a complete connection to their chosen intrument.

After tens of thousands of hours spent tuning, practicing, adjusting, maintaining and thinking about an instrument, it becomes a source of identity, an extension of oneself. Neither the instrument or the player is complete without the other.

Happy Phil Connors Day I've been a fan of the film Groundhog Day for a number of years. I discovered it long after its 1993 release, as did most of its fans - it's a movie that grows on you. It does that because underneath its somewhat gimmicky plot device about a selfish weatherman who is forced to relive the same day over and over again, is a tale about redemption.

In the movie, the act of taking doomed Phil to an eternity of sameness. Phil initially took advantage of the situation for his own gratification, then fell into despair, trying to kill himself in a number of ways, only to find himself starting the same day once more. It's after Phil dies to himself, that he begins to turn outward and sees the needs of those around him. Attending to those needs then becomes a regular part of his daily activity. The acts of giving eventually set him free.

Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.