Sports

High School All-Star Baseball at Al Lang Stadium

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Seeing so many baseballs in one place fascinated me for some reason.It had been awhile since I photographed baseball, so I was excited to have the opportunity to photograph a high school all-star game in Al Lang Stadium (downtown St. Petersburg).  I had never been in that ballpark before so I did not have an idea of its size, which is of course larger than the usual public fields I have photographed other high school baseball games at.

Have to wonder what decade the name STREAKS was chosen in?This larger park meant I had to use ever mm of my Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens in order to get as close to the action as possible, despite being able to plant my monopod at the end of either of the dugouts.  More of a challenge to deal with was the fact that the park was totally exposed to the blazing afternoon Florida sun.  I was not able to get my back to the sun from any angle, so I had to really concentrate on getting focus locks in such challenging conditions.  

Not a scene of exhaustion, just one of stretching!After the sun, a huge shadow fell across the infield for the last few innings!  Manual settings were mandatory to try and get a decent exposure in the lower light and still freeze the action.  

The goal of baseball photography - get the ball in the frame while the batter swingsAnd I do not have that many actions shots to show for my 3 hours of shooting.  At first I did not know it was an all-star game, but I sensed the energy and interactions between the players seemed much less than other tournaments I had photographed.  These high school players came from all around Florida and did not know each other for the most part.  So the camaraderie was just not there.  Even though there were a lot of runs scored, the black team raced out to a 10-1 lead, they were all standing runs, no big home plate confrontations at all.  

They were not the only ones waiting for some action that afternoon.I have to admit my mind did start to wonder in the latter innings as the action really slowed down and I had already gotten all the essential batting, fielding and group shots . . . and then they decided to add a tenth inning!  

Fighting for 3rd base - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 500 1/640th EV +1.33 manual exposureFinally, in one of the final innings there was a decent play made for third base right in front of me.  As you can see the shadow had fallen across the infield, causing me to use some very unusual settings, least of which was cranking the exposure compensation up to +1.33.  

IronKids National Championship 2010 St. Petersburg Florida

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Lots of good vendors at IronKids National Championship 2010 St. Petersburg -- iPhone 4 HDR modeIt had been a while since I photographed sports, a type of photography that is very fun, exciting and challenging to shoot.  I recently became a freelance sports photographer for ASI (Action Sports International) and the 2010 IronKids National Championship right here in St. Petersburg was my first gig with them.  I had a good first experience with ASI, though I used their memory cards and have not seen any of the fruit of my labor (hence only the shoddy iPhone 4 photo above).  It was a very strange experience to come home after 9! hours of shooting and not be able to see a single image.  It seems I can make a request to have some of my photos and I will definitely be following up on that.  I took over 2,000 shots after all!

Things I learned from shooting my first triathlon: 

  • I did not know how to spell triathlon before
  • having both parents as triathletes tends to produce a winning triathlete son/daughter
  • standing in the middle of the road with kids whizzing by on road bikes on both sides does not phase me
  • your monopod is really your best photography friend 

I get my next triathlon photography chance on November 13th in Clearwater for the Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3.

High School Championship Soccer Photography at University of Tampa

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Pre-game introductions for a high school championship soccer match at the University of Tampa field.

Networking works.  I attended a Chamber of Commerce networking event on a Wednesday, then received a phone call the following Thursday from someone I met at that event asking if I could photograph his son's high school championship soccer match because I made a connection with him via a real conversation.

My assignment was to photograph #6 as he made defensive moves that helped his team beat and shutout their opponent.

The night soccer match under the uneven lights at the University of Tampa field were the most challenging photography conditions I have shot in to date.  Of course I was shooting at f/2.8 and had to set my Nikon D300's ISO to 1600 just to get shutter speeds in the 1/300th to 1/400th of a second range.  This was the first time on any photography job that I did not feel absolutely confident from the start.  However, since I arrived early enough to the location, I was able to determine the more well lit spots along the edge of the field.  I noticed that the far side had three large light clusters, while the stadium side only had two.  Most other working photographers were on the stadium side shooting, so I am glad I did not automatically assume it was the best position to shoot from.  Only one other photographer came over to the far side where I shot the whole game from.  

 Soccer players are always looking into the field of play, making photographing their faces a challenge.

After delivering the photographs to the client, I was thrilled (and I must confess relieved) to read his e-mail stating his love for the photographs and thanking me for a job well done.  I pushed my photography gear to the limit and pooled all my post-editing skills to make this happen, and now I will go into any future night sports photography jobs with the same confidence I do all other daylight jobs. 

A late afternoon of high school soccer

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Who knew preparing to kick a soccer ball was like preparing for flight?

Former client Valerie, owner of Aacardi Salon in Saint Petersburg, called me last Tuesday afternoon asking if I was free to photograph her son playing in his last high school soccer game that late afternoon.  Luckily, my schedule just worked out so that I could get there in time for the start of the game.  Her son is #3 pictured above, a defenseman.  

Headers come to those whose head is highest, of course.

I believe her son was the tallest player on the team, so he had several chances like in the above photograph to safely head the ball out of his team's area.  I photographed the entire first half, which ended in a 0-0 tie.

#13 was always in need of some strong defending

As with all non-direct sunlight sports action, getting sharp, well exposed images was a challenge, especially as half the field was in shadow, and the other in a golden setting sunlight, and of course most of the action took place in the former.

The keeper came out for a stroll allowing me to make this close-up image.

I really enjoy the challenge of photographing sports.  You quickly realize out there photographing alone why there are so many photographers on the sidelines of professional sporting events--you simply can always follow the action because you do not know where it will come from, you can only focus on one player well, and hope the action comes to him/her.

Equestrian Photography is fun and challenging

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Jumping is a powerful action by the horse, though at full speed it looks like it takes little muscle.

To a person not versed on the intricacies of horse jumping, it is nearly impossible to tell a good ride from a bad ride unless the horse knocks down or hits the top bar on a gate.  I have photographed several all day equestrian events as a freelance photographer for Tampa Pet Photography, and I am only just learning what the judges actually look for.  The whole time I am still thinking, "why does the horse even need direction to know how to jump over the gate?  Can't it just do it on its own?"

Fox Lea Farm in Venice, Florida is a large, three corral equestrian venue.

Then there are the intricacies of getting the ideal equestrian shot.  The number one priority is making sure the horse's legs are curled under its body.  Capturing the horse at the apex of its jump while still only just above the gate is the next photographic target.  Having the rider pressed tightly against the horse's neck with her (99% of the time they are female riders) face showing would then make it a technically perfect equestrian shot.  Obviously this takes a lot of practice and knowledge of the course (i.e. which direction they jump the gates) and the ability of getting a clean field of view while still ideally having the sun to your back.  Such conditions do not often arise in the glaring late mornings and afternoons in Florida.

I try and memorize the order in which the rider and horse jump over the gates then focus on the 3 or four gates I can actually make a good shot from.

It really helps to have a camera capable of a very high FPS shooting speed.  My Nikon D300 can at its peak get 6 FPS, and that is the bare minimum.  I would certainly like to have the D3s' 9+ FPS capability.  No matter what FPS your camera is capable of, memorizing the course the riders and horses follow over the gates is essential to having any chance at making an ideal or otherwise equestrian photograph.  Out of maybe 14 gates on the largest course and about 8 on the medium sized one, I am usually lucky to be able to have 2-4 gates where it is even possible to make a technically perfect equestrian shot.  All the other gates are either at the wrong angle to my vantage point, too far away, obscured, or so directly backlit that the shot would have no quality to it whatsoever.

I don't know if I'd trust my physical well-being to a horse in this mental state. I can report the woman cleared the course on that horse without incident fortunately.

People are not the only beings to make extremely funny faces while engaged in sports.  The horses can be caught in quite embarrassing poses as well.  It is a rule not to snap away when the horse gets too close, especially if you have a really loud camera actuation (my D300 does) so as to not spook or distract the horse.  Of course flash is totally forbidden.  

The Michael Jordan of horses!

This weekend I will continue my pursuit of making the ideal equestrian shot! 

My first Tampa Bay Rays game at Tropicana Field

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Tropicana Field home of the Tampa Bay Rays in its minimal glory.I joined the Saint Petersburg Chamber of Commerce in June of this year.  At the Chamber's new member orientation networking event they have a raffle where everyone puts their business card in for a prize drawing.  The top prize was a pair of tickets to the Rays game that evening.  They were playing the Toronto Blue Jays.  I knew I had won before the woman even read the name because of my business card's distinct color.  I was half stoked and half thinking, do I have time to suddenly go to a baseball game?

 A Tampa Bay Ray at bat against the Toronto Blue Jays in Tropicana Field.

I had heard that Tropicana Field was not a great baseball venue at all.  My first impression walking from the parking lot to the entrance gate was very positive.  Once inside I felt, "this isn't so bad.  The atmosphere is pretty good, lots of booths and different stuff going on.  Decent buzz."  

Lenses inside Tropicana Field have to be less than 12 inches long, not a problem from my 3rd row behind the dugout seat.

The Chamber has great seats, just three rows behind the visitor's dugout (along the third base line).  We were the first ones in our row and in the area, so had clean site lines and I was able to get unobstructed shots.  However, people filed in well after the first inning and it made getting any good shots nearly impossible.  

Scott Kamir was soon traded from the Rays to the Angels after this start.

I started to notice that Tropicana Field was actually not that nice of a baseball stadium at all.  There were lots of dark areas at the top of the dome, very poorly lit.  The neon and regular billboards overwhelmed the outfield view.  It soon felt very dreary inside the dome, despite the cheers of the Rays faithful.

People scramble to catch a home run ball in Tropicana Field.Still, as home runs started to be hit I felt excited.  I must confess also this was the very first major league game I attended.  I can make the claim to fame, however, of seeing Michael Jordan plan a spring training game years ago.

How I was thrown out of a girl's fast-pitch softball game!

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I (as a photographer) got thrown out of a girl's (age 16+) fast-pitch softball game.  This made me both angry and excited.  I felt nervous like I had done something wrong, but I also felt cool to have been tossed from the field.  How could such a thing happen to an innocent like myself?  This is how . . .

I have photographed baseball tournaments in the past, so I thought photographing my first softball tournament would go pretty much the same way.  In a sense, from a photography standpoint, they are quite similar, but everything else is rather different.  I will elaborate on this point in a future post.  For now, I will concentrate on getting tossed out of the game by this blue:

Here is the setup:  it was toward the end of the game (tie score), so I was on the 3rd baseline in front of the visitor's dugout getting infield andthe ump who threw me outhome plate action shots.  There were two outs and a runner on third.  The batter (#23) made decent contact and was trying to beat the throwout to first so the runner on third could score.  Even a single run here probably would have secured the win for the red team.  

Usually, from the 3rd baseline it is very hard to get a clean shot of the play at first because you have the 3rd baseman (woman) often in the way and you almost always have the pitcher in the way.  Due to the possibility of a play at home I guess, I found myself with a clean shot at first base.  I locked on to the first baseman (woman) and fired away not knowing the gravity of what I was about to capture.  

 The runner was called out.  Of course the red team did not like the call.  After the inning changed I showed the 3rd base coach for the red team the above shot to show it was seemingly the correct call (I cannot see the runner putting a foot on the bag before that ball gets in glove).  He concurred.  

Well, the blue (what umpires are called since they wear blue shirts) who made the call, and who was all the way on the other side of the field, seemed to guess what I was doing and charged across the infield.  No warning was given, just a "get outta here!"  I was like, "why?"  He said photographs cannot be shown to players or coaches during the game.  I of course had been doing this in all previous games with no complaints from any other blue.

There was no negotiating.  I said I had a right to photograph the game by contract and that no one had ever said there was a "no show" policy before.  This just made the blue angrier.  I thought about kicking dirt on his shoes as I left, but did not want to endanger my D300 or Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm F2.8D lens, so I just left giving defiant looks over my shoulder.  

So that is how I got tossed from a softball game!