I was out at L.P. Frans Stadium tonight for Hickory’s second attempt at kicking off the 2008 South Atlantic League minor league baseball season just to be rained out for the second day in a row. There were only a few fans in attendance, because the weather was bad before game time. As I was wandering around the stadium looking for a couple of decent ‘rain out’ feature type photos, I saw this lady sitting in the stadium having a bite to eat while waiting for the rain delay announcement. I have seen her at the park regularly during the last few years I have been covering the Hickory Crawdads. She probably attends more games than I do. I decided to step out from behind my camera and introduce myself and ask for a quick photo. This is a rather rewarding experience in most cases, and it’s also the foundation of my 1000 Faces photo project that I have been working on for the last few years (at a rather slow pace sometimes.)
Her name is Doris Mayes, and she has been attending a large majority of all Hickory Crawdads home baseball games since the inaugural season in 1993. She’s been a season ticket holder since 1996. I listened to her tell me stories about may Hickory Crawdads baseball players who have gone on to play major league baseball during the past 15 years. She was wearing a Crawdads baseball cap with a rather impressive collection of Crawdads hat pins that covered the history of this team through affiliation with the Chicago White Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates. We talked about the weather, the new team, and what’s going on in Hickory with the new management at L.P. Frans Stadium as well.
This experience was quite rewarding for me. I highly recommend it :)
I had an out-of-the-ordinary newspaper assignment late last night at a local night spot called “The Chameleon Club.” The lead performer of the evening was “Mr. Charlie Brown” a.k.a. “America’s Ultimate Bitch” from Atlanta, Georgia. I admit that I have never been to a drag show before and I didn’t know what to expect. Mr. Brown performed some singing, dance, and some stand-up comedy that was quite entertaining.
At any rate, I decided to add Mr. Charlie Brown to my 1000 Faces collection. I really need to get back on this project with a little more effort at some point :)
I had an interesting assignment today. I photographed the Hmong New Year celebration at the local fairgrounds. I really felt like I was in a foreign country, because there were a couple thousand people there and I didn’t hear hardly any English spoken. I met Zoua Lor (pictured above). She’s 96 years old and was enjoying the event :)
My 1000 Faces project has slipped lately. I started this quest to collect 1000 semi-random impromptu and candid portraits of people I encounter in my everyday adventures, and I’m still a long way from being finished. I made the first photo (above) in this project on September 24, 2005. I have only made 186 photos for the project in a little over two years that I have been working on it. I really want to get back on track with this project and make it grow. With each photo, I write a blurb about the person to go along with it. During 2005, I made 99 photos for this project. During 2006, I added 65 more. During 2007, I have only added 22 images to the set. That’s not healthy at all! I’m going to get back on track with this project and see how many more photos I can add. Click on the photo above to see the entire collection…
I haven’t added much to my “1000 Faces” collection this year. I actually feel really bad about that, because it’s a project that I wanted to finish in 3 years or so, which won’t be happening. I started it in September of 2005 and I still have less than 200 faces in the collection. I think I need to make a serious effort to step up my effort in this project. I need to try to commit to at least three new entries per week if I ever intend to get to the 1000 mark!
This is Olivo Astacio. He’s a pitcher for the 2007 Hickory Crawdads baseball team. He’s from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. He’s also a camera ham. When I’m roaming around in the dugout before a baseball game, Olivo is often doing the same.
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
As a brief carryover from yesterday, I did get a snow day out of school today. We have an ever-so-slight dusting of snow and everything shut down. All the local schools and probably most schools in western North Carolina east of interstate 77 took the day off… Now I have extra time to study for a Spanish and Anatomy & Physiology exam that I was scheduled to take today…
I was invited to the Hot Stove Banquet tonight by the Hickory Crawdads. The ‘Dads welcomed a new manager. Gary Green will be holding the reigns of the shellfish this season. Gary came from Lynchburg’s high-A affiliate (Pittsburgh Pirates). He sorta swapped places with Jeff Branson in Hickory. Gary discussed some of the potential players we will have in Hickory this year. I’m a bit concerned, but we’ll see what happens starting in April…
The highlight of tonight’s banquet was our keynote speaker, Kent Tekulve. Kent was a relief pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kent was also a member of the 1979 World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Kent told some intriguing stories about his baseball career, and talked about how important the Hickory low-A franchise is to the Pirates organization. The current Pirates roster has 25 members who started out in Hickory.
The food was good too :)
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
The only interesting thing I did today was make a trip to the local art museum to photograph a guest lecturer. Sharif Bey is a sculptor and professor of Art at Winston Salem State University. He gave a lecture this afternoon called “African-American Art and Identity: Resistance, Representation and Reception.” Professor Bey spoke eloquently on many issues surrounding art in general, as well as African-American Art. I listened to what he had to say, but my concentration was broken by the term “Outsider Art.” I think it’s a dirty word in the art community. I probably feel that way because I’m an outsider and I always will be. I won’t whine about it though. Artists, and those who collect and purchase art, fall under the same rules of society as any other social class. Maybe this topic will make an interesting blog entry at some other time…
Anyway… Meeting Sharif Bey was a good experience. I was impressed with his lecture and was glad to have the opportunity to meet him. His own art fascinates me beyond belief. It’s powerful. I intend to do some additional research on Sharif and his work…
Face #173 on the road to 1000 Faces…