Thursday, March 22, 2007

Best photo ever



Apparently, high school student Michael Carmichael accidentally dropped a baseball in paint in the mid 1960's. He then painted it and dipped it in paint over and over again until it was the size of a football. He donated it to the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home Museum. They wouldn't give it back so he started with a fresh baseball in 1977. It now has over 20,000 coats of paint and weighs 1800 pounds. Michael's wife Glenda has painted thousands of coats herself. You can read about it here or see Mike's own page here, but you only need to look at that picture to get the whole story. Look how sad Glenda is in that "my husband's been painting a baseball for almost 30 years" way. See how the disembodied clowns with dental problems mock her and not him. It's almost too heartbreaking to look at. That's life right there. Mike is Sisyphus voluntarily and happily rolling a giant ball. Glenda is his long-suffering wife who sees life as it is: a pointless endless series of coats of paint. This couple illustrates your two choices: paint and be happy, or don't and be unhappy. A brilliant unintended piece of photojournalism.

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