Thus far, Washington’s shutdown - now about a month so far - hasn’t produced any iconic photojournalism.
   About the best news photos to come out of it as of yet are overflowing outdoor trash cans, trashed restrooms, and chain-sawed trees in national parks or in areas normally maintained by the National Park Service.  However, no really iconic photos yet have run.
   The coming opportunity for really iconic news photos is very late February or early March - as early March is when the first group would normally get their food stamp benefits loaded to their EBT debit cards, while very late February is when people would start running out of February’s benefits that are being uploaded Jan. 20 at the urging of Washington to make sure everyone gets February’s benefits during the shutdown.  However, current news reports in major dailies say that it’s unclear if - let alone when - March’s benefits will be issued if the shutdown continues.  That would mean 38 million Americans starving due to the shutdown - starting in late February or early March.
   Even the early-issued February benefits have an obvious problem: recipients are being told that they will have to last all of February - plus, of course, the last 12 days of January after their early issuance.  However, beneficiaries already received the January allotment - so that won’t be when the real problem hits; the real crisis starts in early March - in the event that the shutdown continues and no March allotment is uploaded to beneficiaries.

Look for scenes like this Oct. 14, 2010 Tea Party rally in Greensboro, N.C. if March’s food stamps don’t go out because of the shutdown.
This is the shutdown’s opportunity for iconic news photos.