Tour the faces and features of America's cities through the lens of a Major League Baseball player
Many of us dream of traveling -- of shutting down our work computer, walking out the door and driving all night to wind up in a new city or booking a plane ticket and seeing where it takes us.
Unfortunately, the reality for most of us is that we have too many responsibilities to ever see the world like that. But we do have the next best thing: Nationals infielder Howie Kendrick. For six months a year, Kendrick gets to work in America's biggest, grandest and oldest cities, and he's committed himself to documenting the experience on his Instagram account.
Armed with his trusty Leica SL, one of the finest cameras on the market, Kendrick captured some amazing reactions in New York's Union Square when the Nationals were recently in town:
It's one thing to properly frame your photograph and get the lighting right, but Kendrick managed to capture something of the essence from the subjects he photographed -- whether it was the steely stare of the bearded man in the first photo or the joyful laugh from the man in the second.
He also showed off his ability to play with shadow when he was waiting for the 4 train. Check out the final photo from this set and tell me it's not a still from your favorite film noir:
He's captured the people of San Francisco, like he's doing his own take on Humans of New York:
He can imbue his photos with a haunting loneliness:
Or a sense of hope and lightness -- all based solely on the angle of his shot and his interplay of light and shadow:
He will occasionally use color, as he did with this amazing hyper-saturated shot:
Of course, Kendrick's work also gives you a glimpse of the big league lifestyle that few can see. From Patrick Corbin sitting at his locker:
To Stephen Strasburg hard at work:
To Gerardo Parra just looking cool as hell:
That the Nationals ballplayer has such good taste isn't a surprise. He's a watch fanatic, and there's a 10-minute video of him discussing his wristwear for proof. He's a classic car aficionado, too, and his feed is filled with shots of drool-worthy Porsches. That he's such a skilled photographer is just another layer to one of the sport's most interesting and talented players.
Michael Clair writes for MLB.com. He spends a lot of time thinking about walk-up music and believes stirrup socks are an integral part of every formal outfit.
