Man in Wheelchair Watching the Louisville Bats versus Norfolk Tides at Louisville Slugger Field, Kentucky
It’s not often that I go back and post older photos on my blog but I haven’t been able to get this photo off my mind. The funny thing is that when I lived in Kentucky, this photo really didn’t strike me as being one of my better photos from my time there. However I did feel a connection with this disabled senior citizen when I saw him because he reminded me of my grandfather who was disabled for the last decade or so of his life due to strokes. No matter his condition, he tried to live life like any other normal person, and not always for his own good but you know what I mean. This moment also reminded me of my own dad who has been afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease since I was in high school. My dad hasn’t fared as well so the contrast struck a nerve with me.
So I see this guy at the minor league baseball game in his wheelchair just watching intently the game like any other hardcore fan. From the way he was sitting it was obvious that he was really excited to be there even in the 90 degree humid heat of the southern summer. I knew I had to take a picture and hoped I would get some shadow details to at least show a hint of his wheelchair. It’s hard to see on the web but it did work out. Technical details aside…
My initial thoughts was that this was a suitable “stock photo”. In other words an image that gets processed then submitted but otherwise just kind of tucked away in the archives. Then a weird thing happened. When I think of my time in Kentucky, my mind keeps going back to this guy in his wheelchair at the Louisville Bats game. Then photo was licensed for a textbook last month and has been growing on me since. I know the buyer probably couldn’t care less about the meaning of the photo but the sale sort of validated in my mind that maybe there was something special about this photo that I captured that I didn’t grasp initially.
Here are more of my Kentucky pictures.
