What did you around July 4? I, naturally, was working on assignment – this time in Knoxville, Tennessee to photograph two landmarks, one new, and the other with a brand new life.
While I’m a fan of and played other sports, baseball has been my lifetime favorite since childhood, a common link I have with my father. Wne I was a kid, Dad would take me to Yankee games. We’d sit in the left field stands where I saw players like Winfield and Mattingly, Bronx fans heckling Rickey Henderson, and Billy Martin getting ejected. I spent my summers regularly catching games on local television and like many boys in the 80s, had a huge archive of baseball cards (which I still have), memorizing player stats on the back. Baseball has provided some of the warmest memories of my life. Major League Baseball – and the game itself – has changed a lot since, but I still find childish joy in the game, particularly in the minor leagues. Like the field of architecture, baseball is a field I have wide knowledge of and love dearly, with moments that exhilarate and others that absolutely breaks my heart.
I worked with Glenn E Mitchell & Co Inc to photograph Knoxville’s new Covenant Health Park, home of the Minor League Baseball Chicago Cubs affiliate Knoxville Smokies. Barton Malow were the building contractors. Of the sports facilities I’ve photographed it’s the third professional baseball stadium I’ve gotten to capture in my career and a sincere to the Smokies for their coordinating and granting access, especially after so many weather delays this spring!
Love the Knoxville stairs.
We had a beautiful summer sunset for their late afternoon game. A walkway wraps around the entire stadium and combined with the seating, bleachers, and club seats offers means to catch the game anywhere from 360 degrees. 
Nearby in downtown Knoxville is historic landmark, the Sunsphere, which recently underwent a renovation and addition by design architect, MHM Architects .
I’ve driven through or worked in Knoxville many times over the last 20 years and the structure was painted green, as it had been for four decades. The building was repainted to it original color blue, similar to when it was built for the 1982 World Fair. The new dynamic welcome center entry is topped with solar panels.
The park was teeming with Independence Day crowds, so I got to take advantage of illustrating activities at the park only reserved for special occasions. 
The welcome center overlooks the World’s Fair Park beyond and offers direct view up to the sphere through an oculus.
The welcome center and its lighting pops at night.
Photography proved as much a study as it did for the building itself and it was fun figuring vantage points to show the tower and the new visitor center.
The crowds (and I) waiting for July 4 fireworks, which was a neat treat considering I was in work mode. So next time you ask me, “I hope you had a good 4th, what did you do?”, most likely I was working somewhere!
