Off-season. Off-season? A time to finish a thesis, and knock out comps, and take many a portrait for holiday glad tidings. I haven’t been an elf since 2011, in a most unfortunate stint at a certain outdoors store at the…
Author: olabner
Welcome! I've followed baseball since I was 8 years old and started this site to illustrate the beauty of the game in prose, poetry, and photography.
I have a Master's in Creative Writing at Missouri State University. For my thesis I wrote a collection of nonfiction micro essays about working in remote Alaska fishing lodges for five summers in my 20s.
After graduation I worked as a northern lights guide in Bettles, Alaska, for 8 months. You can find my favorite aurora photographs at bestnorthernlights.com
I am a freelance writer and photographer. You can find my portfolio at maryellenchiles.com
Check out some images from the Bears scrimmage on 10/12! More essays one of these days, when I’m done writing a thesis on Alaska and can switch back and forth more easily. Baseball is nice to calm the mind, I…
Oft repeated and ever true – there is no bad weather; only bad clothing, as the Norwegians say. The Danes say the key is happiness is low expectations. I found I managed the temperatures in the Arctic, at least when…
Here are some of my favorite horizontal images from the Missouri State exhibition on September 29, 2017. I’m experimenting with upping clarity on action photos. Looking forward to playing with shadows and light on these bright game days! See you…
After thinking I’d lost 45 pages of my thesis* in a computer glitch, I simply had to get away and check out the Bears play ball on a beautiful day at Hammons. *Thesis found. Bears win! Seriously. Free baseball. Go….
Behold – a few more photos of the Missouri State Bears vs. Drury University during the second Battle for Bell exhibition, an ALS fundraiser on September 23 in Ozark, MO. Check the Bears’ fall ball schedule and watch them at…
You remember Aaron Meyer. As a senior second baseman for Missouri State, he tore his patellar tendon running to first base last April. We’d never spoken, but I watched from behind home plate. Late that night I wrote one of my…
An update: I had a wonderful time photographing the Bears last spring and following them to Fayetteville and Fort Worth in the postseason. This summer I procured a press pass and took photos of the Springfield Cardinals (AA). It was…
I recently sustained a concussion while playing softball. I am on hiatus from Ol’ Abner for a bit longer so I can avoid screens. by
FYI – taking this week off to hang out with family and friends before the semester begins. New posts next week! by