Day at the Ball Park
Well I spent this past Sunday at Citizens Bank Park shooting the Phillies/Brewers game. It was sunny, hot, humid so what better place to be than standing in a concrete “bunker” taking photos of the greatest game on Earth! Anyway for those who may not be following, the Phillies are battling the Brewers for the NL East wildcard slot and as of today only trail the first place Mets by half a game.
Now it may sound like I’m a huge Phillies fan. I have a confession: growing up the Pittsburgh Pirates were my team and I despised the Phillies. Okay, maybe ‘despised’ is too strong a word but that’s what you do: love your team, despise everyone else. Well, hopefully the Phillies can forgive me after all I was only twelve. Anyway, after Sunday’s game I have to admit the Phil’s are turning me around. They’re a great team with lots of amazing talent. GO PHILS!!
Jimmy Rollins turning the double play. For all you young aspiring ball players out there, look at these closely. Despite having his leg “hooked up” and pulled along with the runner he maintains his composure throughout. The man does have style.
UPDATE (9/17/08): Since posting this the Phils won another game last night beating the Atlanta Braves 8-7 on a go-ahead homer by Ryan Howard in the eight inning. Oh, and the Mets lost. That puts Philly in first by half a game.
Night Football – 2nd Try
If you read my previous post you would know that I am challenged by shooting high school football games at night using a flash. Challenged is a nice way of saying that I’m frustrated by it. However, I’m forging ahead and continuing to try and get it dialed in. With that said here are a few images from my evening covering the Harrisburg Cougars and Central Dauphin game. Before you take a look though I’d like to mention that I did finally get to meet the man, Chris Knight. Chris is a photographer for the Patriot News and I think he’s shooting for the Associated Press as well. Whatever the case, I’ve been following his stuff for a while now and have a great deal of respect for his work. In the short amount of time I had to speak to him, he seems like a great guy. Nice to meet you Chris. Now, the images . . .
Night Football – Aaaarrrggghhh!!
I do not like shooting high school football games under the lights. There, I admitted it. Done. Over. Moving along. Well, let me clarify . . . I actually love shooting high school football games. They’re fun, exciting, and I can usually shoot without all the sideline obstacles one normally encounters at the college-level and higher. What I don’t like is shooting high school football games at night when I HAVE to use a flash.
I freelance for Maxpreps, a high school varsity sports web site. They are an awesome company to work with but do have very specific requirements for their photographers. One of those happens to be that you must shoot with a flash. Now let me just say that proper use of flash does help create a better quality image but notice I said “proper”. Truth be told, I’m flash challenged and as such have always gone out of my way to avoid the use of that tortuous piece of camera gear.
I finally decided that after 20 years it was time to shake the flash monkey off my back. Why not? I mean, don’t we all need just a little anxiety and frustration in our lives? So, what better way to exorcise my demons than to dive head first into the deep end. I applied for a freelance position with Maxpreps, was accepted, and that brings us up to the 2008 high school football season.
I’m pretty confident that I will eventually get this all sorted out. Until then here are just a few (almost the majority) of usable shots that I was able to get from the Parkland vs Saint Joe’s Prep game last Friday. Oh, and if you happen to be at the Harrisburg vs CD East game this week, please . . . no sympathy. However, a few words of support, encouragement, or even a few peanut butter cups would be greatly appreciated.
