January 01, 2000
I chose this picture because I thought it was gentle. It doesn't happen often that a situation for taking pictures feels special. This one did.
Lloyd Fox : Sun Staff
BALTIMORE, Nov. 4 -- Memorial service for Baltimore Police flight officer Barry Wood at the B&O Museum in Baltimore. Wood's helicopter experienced technical difficulties and then crashed, killing Wood just outside the B&O Museum last year. Mark Keller, right, was Wood's partner and was in the helicopter when it crashed. At left is Keller's son Mark, 3, wearing his dad's hat during the service inside the warehouse at the B&O Museum.
After searching through the thousands of pictures I shot in 1999, I keep coming back to the picture of Mark Keller, 3, looking up at his dad while wearing his dad's police hat as my favorite. The picture was taken at a memorial service for officer Keller's partner who was killed in a police helicopter crash a year ago. Officer Keller was also in the helicopter when it crashed. If I wasn't a dad myself I might have chosen a different picture. Little Mark Keller doesn't know how lucky he is.
Elizabeth Malby : Sun Staff
O'DONNELL HEIGHTS, Dec. 8 -- This faded and tattered American flag seems to symbolize the state of the American Dream for members of the O'Donnell Heights community, where residents from several displaced public housing developments, some from rival gangs, have been forced to live together, often resulting in violent clashes.
Kenneth K. lam : Sun Staff
BALTIMORE, April 5 -- Tampa Devil Rays coach Greg Riddoch casts a shadow over the painted number 7 on the third-base coaches' box at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The number was a memorial tribute to Orioles' former third base coach and manager Cal Ripken, who died in 1999 of cancer.
I like this picture because of the symbolic element represented by the shadow. Also the timing of the situation was unique. I was assigned to shoot opening day of the Orioles' 1999 season from the third-base overhead TV position. The Sun only staffs extra photographers in those positions during events such as opening day and playoffs. The sun would cast shadows over the stadium only during games starting on late afternoons, and the light would only last a couple of innings. And third-base coaches on both teams do not stay inside the box for long. So, when all these elements came together at the right time, it made a unique photograph.
Kim Hairston : Sun Staff
Baltimore, spring 1999 -- Tyrone Sol, left, provides a target for his son, Tavon Sol, 8. Tavon is learning the fundamentals of boxing from his father and volunteers at Umar Community Center. Tyrone, now a trainer and educational director, was once an amateur middleweight.
During the several weeks I visited the Fulton Avenue center where the UMAR boxing program is housed, my perception of the sport of boxing changed. Instead of a brutal activity, I began to see it as something that engages the mind and body, a more complex endeavor that I once thought. As I watched the trainers work I saw their love of the children, their sport and their community.
Algerina Perna : Sun Staff
WAGNER'S POINT, late July -- Best friends Crystal Hindla, left, and Dina Castillo say goodbye to each other in late July when Crystal, her brother, Howard, and their grandparents left Wagner's Point for Florida.
This is one of my favorite pictures from a project on Wagner's Point. The picture evokes many responses in me. I see simultaneously joy and sadness: having a best friend and then having to say goodbye. It's symbolic of the changing nature of life -- of beginnings and endings, followed by more beginnings and endings, and so the cycle continues. There will be many moments like this in these girls' lives, as there are for all of us. Looking at the picture reminds me to appreciate all the precious things in life because nothing lasts forever.
Amy Davis : Sun Staff
CATONSVILLE, Jan. 19 -- What was a nice Jewish girl doing in a mosque filled with thousands of Muslim men? I had to improvise a head covering from my muffler to enter the vast room inside the Masjid Al-Rahmah, the Catonsville home of the Islamic Society of Baltimore, where only men were permitted to gather for prayers marking the end of Ramadan. I was treated with utmost respect and cordiality by all the men I encountered. In the back of the mosque I found Sohail Imran, bathed in a serene light and framed by shadows. I left the mosque imbued with some of this tranquillity. If only we could all hold onto this notion of peace and harmony with others the rest of the year.
Chiaki Kawajiri : Sun Staff
