Black and White Challenge - Day 2 of 5, #blackandwhitechallenge This photograph was made during a freelance magazine cover shoot for New Florida Magazine, a magazine founded by the former managing editor of Life Magazine, while I was a staff photojournalist for the Florida Times Union. The image won awards in photojournalism then years later in national advertising. You can OWN this photograph since its been in circulation as a Hallmark greeting card for years, as licensed through Getty Images. I recently regained full rights to the image after resigning from Getty images. This photograph is my all-time #1 best selling stock photograph. How it went down.... This GREAT assignment was to go deep within the rural Florida panhandle to photograph the then unknown Wausau Possum Festival somewhere near this town of 300 now billed as the “Possum Capital of the World.” At this time the event drew only rural people who viewed this festival a lot like a state fair since their remote location was far from a major city. At this annual festival a Possum King and Possum Queen are crowned and old fashioned events for kids included greased pole climbing, greased pig chasing, turtle racing, best possum, best turtle and, of course, the delicacy - possum and sweet taters as prepared by experienced possum cooks. It was notable finding myself the only photojournalist at the event. OF COURSE I had to try possum and sweet taters! Possum tastes exactly like armadillo! (Actually tastes more like pork) I was having a blast making photographs of a 7 year old boy with his gopher (rural Florida for “turtle”) when I heard a nearby voice shouting, I’m gonna out grin ‘im!!! as Mr. James Wood, The Possum King, proudly held a possum over his head, “grinning like a possum,” as the saying goes, for all to see and to lots of applause. Mr Wood had been the undisputed Possum King for several years running – and looked like it – so I was instantly all over the Possum King since this man was clearly the REAL deal. I grinned back at Mr Wood and yelled Go ahead - lemme see you out grin ‘im! I tend to be a bit physical when shooting so I moved around quickly – grinning and reacting in an approving manner as the Possum King danced a jig trying to keep the possum from biting him. I recall telling the Possum King, That possums out grinnin you! GRIN BIGGER! whereupon Mr Wood responded perfectly. I do believe the Possum King out-grinned that possum… I nailed two full rolls of TriX black & white film of this incredibly fun country character. I had no model release for this image for years but one day as a whim called the Wausau Chamber of Commerce to ask if anyone remembered the now likely deceased Possum King. The lady who answered the phone responded, “That’s my great Uncle - he’s 98 years old and he’s still a character!” I sent a check and a stack of 8x10’s. Mr Wood was happy to sign the release. The hysterically funny Possum King I call Possum Man proved you dont have to go to Hollywood or live in a big city to be a great comedian - the man kept the crowd laughing all day. Possum man was a natural-born entertainer, even if only seen outside the swamps once a year.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 21:04:40 +0000
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