When I approached Anthony Roberts a few weeks ago, I felt sort of weird about it. I said something like,  “Hey, I’m a student at UIndy, and I have a photo journalism assignment to take pictures of interesting people in my neighborhood.” I believe that my wording was actually that rambling. Anyway, he told me to go ahead. So I did.

Anthony Roberts is a seasonal worker for Liberty Income Tax Services on the corner of Madison and Edgewood avenues. He waves and paces around in the intermittent snow on March 25. (James Figy)

I had noticed Anthony earlier when I was driving to pick up some Noodles. At that time, snow was pelting him. The flurry of white contrasted with the bold colors of his outfit, creating a striking image. It was sort of a sad image, too, and I wanted to capture it.

Unfortunately, my camera, which isn’t actually mine and belongs to the school, was at home. When I made it back with the camera, it was sunny. It was a parable of preparedness.

The snow never picked back up, although a few flakes of dandruff floated down from the clouds. Mostly, the sky was overcast with intermittent sun. This made the image seem more hopeful than before, which is probably better, more optimistic.

I thanked Anthony, apologizing that he had to stand out there “freezing his ass off.”

But with his headphones blaring something funky, Anthony kept warm, strutting across the sidewalk and sometimes playing air guitar.

“It’s not too bad,” he said, “so long as I keep moving.”