Photograhy – BALLPARK PRINTS

Eleven months ago, as COVID-19 started to spread, we left Spring Training in Florida and drove home to Westchester County, NY. Shortly after arriving home, I wrote about our trip home, all the while thinking now’s my chance to become a more active writer while in shutdown. It did not happen. Writing has always been my Achilles Heel. But, because of COVID-19 and the shutdown of my studio for five months. It gave me the time to reset what I want to change. Though I enjoyed my second career working with other artists, it began to feel more like a job—something I did not want after retiring in 2006.
While the building/studio was closed, the 44″ Epson printer, printer heads dried up, clogging the lines. After extensive work on attempting to get the printer up and running. Between the expense of the repair kit, ink, and paper waste, in August, I gave up. I called 1-800-GOT-JUNK and felt a lot better. But, the shutdown has been far more devastating for the musicians, actors, and artists. Many artists I know and worked with lost their galleries here in the US and abroad that showcase their work.

Starting January into February 2020, I began printing the pictures for my project and purchased the inventory to complete it.

In August, having already given on my old printer, I decided I called B&H in Manhattan to purchase an Epson SureColor P5000 Standard Edition 17″ Wide-Format Inkjet Printer. This project was close to my heart. It has been something that I started thinking about a long time ago. Over the year’s I made changes to the concept. In 2010 I had 100-handmade boxes crafted. So, now 2021, it’s full steam ahead.

On Friday, I finished work on the last set of prints, and today, the last element the cover letter. So, now I will let the visuals speak:

The total amount of images, 2600. Every image had to be hand trimmed to fit correct in the boxes.

And today the last element

This Limited-Edition Box Set is a photographic history covering the span of Yankee Stadium I II and III. All of the fine art prints, also called giclee’s, are archival museum-quality, using pigment inks on 100% cotton rag paper. The custom-made box and interleaved buffered-paper to protect the prints are acid-free. This combination gives you the highest quality fine art printing available.

Following a lengthy review of Yankee Stadium images, I found it daunting to create a visual story. I chose these 25 pictures as they show the stadium as it progressed and changed. They share a visual aspect, connecting the three Yankee Stadiums’ stories together. I chose to start with June 1, 1922, over earlier shots as it shows the construction’s beginnings. The 1922 photo’s perspective and the picture taken on March 19, 2010, are from the same camera location. August 16, 1937, the picture depicts the completed triple deck right-field stands, proving that Babe Ruth never hit a home run into the third deck. Other pictures are of all five scoreboards. One is from 1973, thanking the fans at the last game at Yankee Stadium on September 30, 1973, and another is the last game in 2008 with Babe Ruth on the screen. Also included are pictures capturing the last pitch at Yankee Stadium II in 2008 and the first pitch at the new Yankee Stadium III in 2009.

This Limited-Edition Box Set is comprised of a vast archive of-one-of-a-kind pictures. The Black & White images are public domain. All the Color images were shot by Paul Plaine and are copyright protected and cannot be reproduced without written permission.

Paul Plaine

You can contact me at paul@ballparkprints.com or through Message on twitter for additional information.

https://www.instagram.com/ballparkprints/

http://www.harlem.org/ click and scan the image for names of the jazz graets in this iconic photograph — http://www.harlem.org/
click on the link to scan the image for names of the jazz greats in this iconic photograph

Of the first three photographers, I highlighted two I meet and worked with, Ernst Hass and Dan Budnik at Frenchy’s Color Lab in NYC. Frenchy’s and there was a Frenchy who was one of those bigger than life characters he came to New York from France around 1947-48 and started working in the New York as a motorcycle messenger. In 1969 Frenchy opened Frenchy’s Color Lab and it quickly became one of the top two Dye Transfer printing houses in the world.

I graduated from the Germain School of Photography in the spring of 1971 and started working as a studio freelance assistant photographer doing lighting set-ups, loading film, developing film sometimes, printing and whatever else needed to be done in the course of a day that started before 8AM and usually ending late at night for about $20.00 a day. I loved it, and never thought of it has work.

One of the photographers I encountered (1971) was Art Kane someone whose work I admired. That same year 1971 late summer I got a job at Frenchy’s, because the guy in front of me wanted $105 and I accepted $100 per week. It was a life changing and over time will expand. Around 1977 Art Kane walked in, he knew Frenchy and was now looking to get back in the business and get his career on track again. Over the next five years, I would see Art Kane, and we have lunch, and dinners while working together.

Art Kane was originally going to be the first photographer for these weekend blogs but as I read up on him I realized how personal it was to me knowing him as I did. When rereading his New York Times obituary stopped me cold again the same way it did in 1995.