fotoVisions ~ david greenfield, photographer

making the ordinary ... extraordinary

Sports Galleries

Shooting Hoops : Baseball may be the American Pastime, but look down your hometown street and chances are you’ll see a basketball hoop in almost every driveway. Basketball has profound resonance that can span generations; kids bounce the ball as they walk and talk on the street, teens release the day’s tension playing pickup in schoolyards and parks after classes, and Boomers show up religiously for Sunday morning competition. For these weekend warriors, as long as their banged up joints respond to ibuprofen and neoprene supports, there is no mandatory retirement age. Question: What is it about basketball that draws so powerfully and with such longevity? Answer: The game is challenging, invigorating, it’s fun ….. and perhaps the court is a safe place for “acting out” behavior that would otherwise not be considered permissible in the outside world. Can basketball be a metaphor for life? Whatever it is, basketball is the unifying theme for my shared passions: playing & observing the game coupled with photography and writing. Consider this personal reflection …… “I’ve always admired strength, whether physical or mental, and I appreciate finesse. Sometimes these qualities are all in one package. With his 7 foot stature and upper body muscle, Hakeem Olajuwon of the ‘70s Houston Rockets could couple a soft touch on the ball with deft footwork artistry of a ballet dancer as he powered for position under the basket. At the lower end of the height ruler was former Russian refusenik Anatoly Sharansky. He did not play power-basketball but “played big” as a towering exemplar of mental toughness, maintaining a resolve to emigrate freely from the former Soviet Union despite 10 years of imprisonment, interrogation, and torture. In the end, he out-finessed the KGB. I'm not at all like either of these giants of mind and body, but when I stepped onto the court, my goal was to play strong and smart. Some days, perhaps only when the stars were properly aligned, it seemed that I was able to move and fight Olajuwon-like for inside position while persevering with a Sharansky mindset as I worked to finesse opponents sent out to defend against me. Those were good days!” “Shooting Hoops,” as I call my endeavor, is a combined expression of art, storytelling, street experiences, and plain love of the game. It is the product of all my trips up and down the court of inspiration. I hope to share this inspiration and offer a little insight about the “inner” game so viewers can be encouraged to lace up their shoes and feel the passion.

Shooting Hoops