Jo Jo on the Porch, #1  

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Barry W. Hollritt, 2005  

This is Jo-Jo.  A sedate, passive and completely captivating yellow Labrador retriever that I ran into in the heartland of Pennsylvania.  I found Jo-Jo as I ventured off of Interstate 80 going east on a warm spring day.  I had decided to go find a classic old round barn that one may find scattered throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania and knew somewhere off this exit there might be one.  I wandered as I do into deeper back roads, and in this case, along the Redbank Creek.  My wandering usually has a reason and on this day it was really because of Jo-Jo and not necessarily the barn, though the initial reason may now be disputed!  Coming down a rural road I saw Jo Jo sitting on the porch of a small house, quietly looking out onto this narrow one lane road that I was driving on.  It was a small house with a white finish and up on the porch sat Jo Jo in a black chair.  As I slowed down to look at him, I knew immediately that he was going to be a photograph.  I photographed Jo Jo and as I did, he never paid me much attention or moved off his chair.  He seemed oblivious to the world around him.  As I was photographing, I was being observed by an old man sitting across the street.  I asked him the dog’s name and he said “Jo-Jo”.  He also said “come by any time to see the dog, he is always sitting in that chair and hardly leaves the porch”.  I believe the image captures a moment that needed to be captured of a wonderful canine in the middle of our heartland who may never be known more than by myself and his owners… and the old man who told me his name.  I took a second image of Jo-Jo that you must also view.  When I pulled away, Jo-Jo was sitting in his chair.  I circled back a few minutes later to just see if he was there before I left the town… and of course, he was!