Jerry Uelsmann 1975

This black and white photo by Mike Mandel pictures Jerry Uelsmann holding a baseball bat, sometime in the twentieth century. Uelsmann squints out at us, face partially hidden by dark glasses and the bat, with a stadium looming behind him. I wonder what it was like to be Mandel, standing in the sun, asking Uelsmann to pose just so. What were they talking about? What kind of mood were they in? This piece reminds me of the kind of playful experimentation and rule-breaking that was happening in photography at the time. There’s something deeply human about this picture, capturing a moment of possibility. It reminds me that we're all in this creative game together, bouncing ideas off each other. This work is a reminder that art is about connection and collaboration across time.