Photo / Tim Greenway
"Crane Kick"
Updated: December 27, 2021
From the Editor
How the crane kick made it from ‘Karate Kid’ to Mainebiz
We thought it was fitting that our cover for this year’s Book of Lists features a construction image. There’s a backstory with this photo as well.
Tim Greenway has been our primary photographer at Mainebiz for the better part of two decades.
The Minnesota native had worked for a daily newspaper in Appleton, Wisc., then moved to Portland in 2003 to the SALT Institute for Documentary Studies.
In 2004, he reached out to Mainebiz about doing freelance work.
Tim Greenway
“I had done a lot of editorial work and I reached out to Mainebiz,” he recalls. “They said, ‘We have this guy who does photography, but we could use some freelance.’ At first, they would hire me to do photo stories. I did a story about a guy who collected vegetable oil.
He would take vegetable oil from restaurants and he had a big tanker truck, he’d drive it to Riverside and he’d turn it into biofuel.”
The primary photographer left, and Mainebiz asked Tim to take over.
Over the years, the photos for Mainebiz have evolved.
“I think Mainebiz has done a better job of getting out of the office, doing storytelling portraits that tell something about the subject — not just, ‘here they are behind their desk..’”
Of course, he’s being modest by saying Mainebiz. He and Art Director Matt Selva were a big part of that change.
In 2018, Greenway branched out into art photography. He had an exhibit of photos of Mackworth Island that were shown at Portland City Hall. He also had a solo show at the University of New England, where he teaches photography part-time.
Recently, he had an exhibit of photos taken of Portland industrial areas and construction sites. It was his largest exhibit, in terms of number of works and the time invested.
The cover photo for the Book of Lists, “Crane Kick,” comes from that exhibit, which was at Cove Street Arts.
He says the photo was shot at the East End construction site for the headquarters of Covetrus, and the adjacent Shipyard Brewing hotel.
The name “Crane Kick” might ring a bell with readers of a certain age.
“That is from ‘Karate Kid,’” Greenway says.
Daniel, the main character played by Ralph Macchio, uses it in the final fight scene.
“He has an injured leg.” Greenway says, “so he uses the crane kick to beat the villain.”
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