“No easy ones today, make that eye, brain, and camera work. I didn’t find a single person out walking along the main roads. The first street I turned down just so happened to be the best one, I just didn’t know it yet………”
The Coolest Golfer in town
Time to stock up on the milk, eggs, and bread cause you know we gotta have that French Toast!
Here I was on this cold frigid wintery Saturday, driving through town with my camera on the seat next to me trying to catch inspiration. Sometimes you get lucky and see something that catches your eye, most of the time you catch the mundane. This Saturday should have had a lot of people out and about moving around which you would have thought prime street photos………….I did get a cool shot of a of the West End Schnuck’s parking lot almost packed…….that’s a win right? Besides stopping in some of the parks taking shots, it was not a lot of people out in town. Most people were prepping for this massive amount of snow we are supposed to receiving in the St. Louis Metro area. Really didn’t want to be in a store full of people taking shots of them. I am sure a few would have been cool but I was not trying to have an impromptu photoshoot in Schnuck’s. On second thought maybe I should have…………it could have been fun.
How could I forget I did capture a classic sign. Skyview is one of the last remaining drive in theaters.
This is what got me to thinking what else could I capture that we drive past every day that is really mundane but cool at the same time. How many of you have driven past this sign and never gave it a second thought? We can get so blinded by the new shinny things that we miss things that have been with us for years. Ok back to the “Man Van” funny how your kids take after you with the jokes. My daughter dubbed my Ford Flex that and it never left. It was such a smooth barb that I was proud of her cause we come from a long line platinum tongued humorists. So this is for my people that drive Ford vehicles…….what do they make those flex pipes out of? Tinfoil? My truck sounds like a monster……..not the good kind. Back to warmth and the next spot.
I decided to check out a spot where I tried to film a segment for Hi Neighbor that never was released. When I last visited this spot I got a freaked out, not going to lie about it. I had all my gear with me and didn’t check out this spot before I decided to use it that evening. Big mistake, learned from that. When I checked out the spot today I noticed they have torn down the wall that used to hide a humongous patio area and beer garden. I wasn’t there for that. I was there for the rusted pit that stands there. It used to make the west of town smell nice on a Friday when they were prepping for the dinner rush, now it sits coated in the soot of many burnt logs. It appears the last time it was used was to keep someone warm as there was burnt trash and rubbish in it. If i could have got it in the back of my Flex, I would have taken it home like a stray dog.
And this is where things get interesting….. the last three shots were captured in about 10 minutes. I was doing so well I decided to give myself a little challenge. I had to capture one person. Now I could have cheated and just went to a store or gas station and snuck a few shots, but I am better than that. No easy ones today, make that eye, brain, and camera work. I didn’t find a single person out walking along the main roads. The first street I turned down just so happened to be the best one, I just didn’t know it yet………..
I turned that corner and saw this bright white cowboy hat and a guy swinging a golf club. He was the definition of a man that was doing what ever made him smile. Huh, that’s pretty cool. Maybe I will get lucky in this neighborhood. Instead of rolling the dice further I grabbed my chips and headed to cash in. I drove to the next intersection to turn around to hopefully catch him in full swing. I race down the street and in my exuberant state I drove past his house. I put the car in reverse and hurry up and park across from his house. I grabbed my camera and asked him if I could snap a few shots of him because I could always use the practice. This man was living his best life. I didn’t realize he had three clubs he was testing out. He originally had an iron in his hand and switched to a driver allowed me to get this one.
My morning was complete, this was one of those moments I could not pass up on because it was mundane in the fact that he was just minding his business and living life and any other time we would drive past…….Technically I did drive past him twice before stopping. You would not give probably more than thirty seconds of you life thinking about him after, but that is what makes it so special. This photo shows a life lived and still living, the threat of snow and inclement weather did not dampen his joy in that moment. As a thanks I edited his photos I printed up three 4×6’s sans the Hi Neighbor watermarks. I drove back to his house and slid them in the storm door after I knocked. As I headed back to the Man Van I couldn’t help but think I literally met “The Coolest Golfer in Town.”
