ATTN: Baltimore/Orioles/Baseball/Photography Fans

This morning, veteran Mobtown writer (and Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! contributor) Rafael Alvarez sent the following call for photo submissions:

In the spirit of Mr. Leroy Merriken, the Sunpapers photographer who shot every O’s season opener for nearly 70 years, Welcome To Baltimore, Hon! is launching a season-long baseball project in which a different photograph of Oriole Park at Camden Yards will be taken every day–rain or shine, game or no game, home or away–and posted on its Web site.

The key to the idea’s success is getting as many people involved as possible: kids, amateurs, apprentices, professionals (Kristine Buls and Jennifer Bishop are already on board); heck, even my mother, a bleeding orange O’s fan still getting over the release of Melvin "Smiley" Mora.

We are aiming for six months of pictures of Camden Yards, one a day from April 1 through as deep into October as the Birds are able to go. Different shooters, different perspectives, same pile of bricks. Each morning, the photo from the day before will be on view at Welcome To Baltimore, Hon!

Every photo will be a hotlink to the Web site of the photographer’s choice. Thus, if you are a professional chef who happens to love photography, baseball, or both, double-clicking on your Camden pic will take a reader to your restaurant’s web site. And so on.

In the end, we will have a true "Baltimore family album" of more than 180 sequential photographs of one of the most cherished dots on the Baltimore map: inside the stadium, outside, and around. From hot dogs to the homeless; players to party girls.

If you are a true student of the game, take a shot of someone coming in high to break up a double play. If architecture is your bag, the green girders may wind up in print. We are sure to get portraits of more than a few babies–cute and not-so cute–in Oriole onesies.

Beyond this, the project is sure to take on a life of its own.

All contributors must sign a release to allow Welcome To Baltimore, Hon! to use their work, and two or three high resolution shots must be emailed the same day they are taken to camden@welcometobaltimorehon.com.

The month of April is already spoken for and May is filling up fast.

So say cheese, hon, and play ball...


[Photo: Bruce Goldfarb]