Ivan Potter, story and photos
Thursday, September 29, 2011 8:53 am

The long remembered legend that was and is today the man regional cultural history calls Irvin S. Cobb stood in full array adorned against the Paducah flood wall. The 12 foot high image of him painted in brilliant browns and earth colors stood out above the laughing, joisting, constantly moving afternoon crowd.

The mobs of people were enjoying the 17th Barbecue on the River along the Paducah Kentucky riverfront.

If he were alive today, this would be the place for him. Good food, bright colors, painted women and outlandish clothing, and almost any kind of body piercing and tattoos one would ever want to see in one lifetime.

Cobb was all about the moment with its richness so full of pleasure and sinuous potential. Laugher was his stock in trade and foundation for his writings. But above all else he was a true character of his time.  The giant mural with him in a place of honor held a sense of comedic honor above the throng of people on this September day.

He seemed to be amused as to so much energy being devoted to having fun.

Cobb caught my eye due to the solitary figure stand in Cobb’s space. The frame of a great photography opportunity leaped out of my mind a without thinking my hands moved the camera into position and fired off two shots.

The results show a lone figure of a man with multi cameras. He is resting in place as he stands monitoring the ongoing mob for that special picture or photo opportunity.

He stopped looking at the crowd and now focused on me. With a smile I approached him from 30 feet out of his space. Instead of reaching out for his hand I stopped just four feet from him to look at his cultural weapons. I looked in envy at his five different kinds and sizes of cameras. I had only one camera with two lenses.

We instantly exchanged business cards. His name is Steven M. Green and he’s a full time freelance photographer. In the space of three seconds of time it took me to shoot my Canon, we became brothers in space and time. We knew each other as the same type of spirit who roam the earth in search of good light for that one special image that makes the one shot in a 1,000 failures all the worth while for our time and creative suffering.    

And on this day of fun and outdoor adventure, Steven M. Green provided me with a chance to capture a little digital magic of history, space and time.